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THE FRONTIER FORTS 



WITHIN THE 



North and West Branches of the Susquehanna River, 

PENNSYLVANIA, 



A REPORT OF THE STATE COMMISSION APPOINTED TO 

MARK THE FORTS ERECTED AGAINST THE 

INDIANS PRIOR TO 1783, 

BY 
CAPTAIN JOHN M. BUCKALEW, 

A MEMBER OF THE COMMISSION, AND CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE 
WYOMING HISTORICAL AND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



KliAD BliFOliK THK WYOMIXG HISTOKICAL AND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, OCTOBER 4, 1895, 
AND REPRINTED FROM THE STATE REPORT, 1896. 




WILKES-BARRE, PENN'A. 

i8q6. 



THE FRONTIER FORTS 



WITHIN THE 



Nortli and West Brandies of the Susquehanna River. 

• PENNSYLVANIA. 



A REPORT OF THE STATE COMMISSION APPOINTED TO 

MARK THE FORTS ERECTED AGAINST THE 

INDIANS PRIOR TO 17S3, 

BY 
CAPTAIN JOHN M. BUCKALEW, 

h 
A MK.VfBER OF THE COMMISSION, AND CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE 

WYOMING HISTORICAL AND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



READ BEFORE THE WYOMING HISTORICAL AND GEOLOGICAl, SOCIBTY, OCTOBER i, 1895. 
.\XD REPRINTED FROM THE STATE REPORT, 1896. 




WILKES-BARRE, PEXX'A 

1896. 



E. B. YORUY, PRINTER, 
WILKES-BARRE, PA. 



5r 



Tt was the intention of the Pubh'cation Committee of the Wyo- 
ming Historical and Geological Society to issue the following 
valuable paper of Captain J. M. Buckalew, simultaneously with 
the publication, by the State, of the two volumes entitled "The 
Frontier Forts," from which they were reprinted. But it was 
found impossible to procure the plates and maps used in the 
State Report, and the Committee has been compelled to provide 
the illustrations from another source. Hence the delay. The 
illustrations are from plates kindly supplied by Captain Buckalew, 
and electrotyped by the Evening Times of this city. 



IN EXCHANG!< 



vu.la.lngt on Inst Freti L.l^yi 



THE FRONTIER FORTS 



WITHIN THE 



NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES 



SUSQUEHANNA RIVER. 



BY JOHN M. BUCKALEW. 



THE ^FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN THE 
f^NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 



To the Honorable the Commission appointed by his Excel- 
lency, Gov. Robert E. Pattison, under Act of Assembly, ap- 
proved the 28d day of IMay, A. D. 1893, to examine and 
report to the next session of the Legislature upon the advis- 
ability of marking by suitable tablets the various forts 
erected against the Indians by the early settlers of this Com- 
monwealth prior to the year 1783. 

This committee, having qualified, met in Harrisburg in No- 
vember, 1893; after organizing, divided the State into five dis- 
tricts, one to each member to examine and report upon to the 
body at some time agreed upon. This being the time set, I re- 
spectfully submit for your inspection and approval the result 
of my investigations. 

Commencing my labors soon after returning home from Har- 
risburg, I found my territory, which comprised old Northum- 
berland county, with her ample limits contained fifteen or six- 
teen of these forts, many of whose sites were unknown to the 
great mass of our citizens. Three to five generations had 
passed away since the stirring scenes that made these forts 
necessary had been enacted; in some cases the descendants of 
the early settlers had removed or the families died out of the 
knowledge of the present generation. One would wonder at 
this was he not acquainted with the settling up of the great 
West, where, for seventy or more years poured a steady 
strenm of emigrants, who, I am happy to say, have done no 
disrrodit to the State rearing them. 

Those paying attention to archeology invariably assisted me 
to the extent of their nhility whenever called upon. T am 



4 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

deeply indebled to Col. John G. Freeze, author of History of 
Columbia County; Hon. John IJlair Linn, author of Annals of 
Buffalo Valley; J. M. M. Gernerd, of Muncy, and publisher-au- 
thor of Now and Then, for much valuable aid. To that vet- 
eran historian, John F. Meginness, of Williaiiisport, I am 
deeply indebted for assistance in locating a part of the forts, 
jis well as the information derived from his publications, es- 
pecially his "Otzinachson," or History of the West Branch 
Valley; to J. H, MacMinn and Capt. David Bly, of Williaras- 
])ort, and Capt. R. Stewart Barker, of Lock Haven, for valu- 
iible aid; to Wra. Field Shay, Esq., and J. L Higbee, of Wat- 
sontown, for information and aid in locating sites of some of 
the forts; to David Montgomery, at Fort Rice at Montgom- 
ery's for aid: to O B. Melick, Esq.. of Bloomsburg, for aid in 
locating; to M. L. Hendricks, of Sunbury, for gentlemanly aid 
to the Commission when there; to Dr. R. H. Awl, of the same 
place, for information to the Commission. We found him a 
veritable storehouse of knowledge in all pertaining to Fort 
Augusta, to Sunbury and its surroundings. 

I find it impossible to set out the claims of many of these 
forts to recognition without including the biography in part of 
some of the most active participants in the stirring events of 
their date, and consequently, our report will assume greater 
dimensions than originally expected. 

The forts coming within my review according to the deci- 
sion of the commission, were as follows: 

Fort Augusta. At Sunbury, Northumberland county. Pa., 
on East bank of Main River Susquehanna, and near the junc- 
tion of its North and West Branches, covering branches and 
main river. 

Fort Jenkins. Located on the north bank of the North 
Branch of the Susquehanna, in Centre township. Columbia 
county, about midway between the present towns of Berwick 
and Bloomsburg. 

Fort Wheeler. Located on banks of Fishing Creek, about 
three miles above present town of Bloomsburg, on B. & S. R. 
R., in Scott township, Columbia county, at Shew's paper mill. 

Fort McClure. Located on bank of river within the present 
limits of town of Bloomsburg, Columbia countv, Benna. 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 5 

Fort Bosley, or Bosley's Mills. Located at Wasliingtonville, 
Derry township, Montorr county, in the forks of the Chilisqua- 
qua Creek. 

Fort Freeland. Located on the north side of Warrior Run, 
about four miles east of Watsontown, Northumberland county, 
and on the line of the W. & W. R. R. 

Fort Boone, or Boone's Mills. Located on Muddy Run, near 
its mouth, between the towns of Milton and Watsontown, and 
about two miles below the latter, near the West Branch of the 
Susquehanna, in Northumberland county. Pa, 

Fort Swartz. Located on the east bank of the West 
Branch of the Susquehanna river, in Northumberland county, 
Pa., about one mile above present town of Milton. 

Fort Menninger. Located at White Deer Mills, on the west 
bank of the West Branch of the Susquehanna and on the 
north bank of White Deer creek, near the town of White Deer, 
in Union county. 

Fort Brady. Located adjoining the town of Muncy, Lycom- 
ing county, south of the built-up portions of the town. 

Fort Muncy. Located on railroad about a half mile above 
Hall's Station, in Lycoming county, and a few hundred yards 
directly in front of the famous Hall's Stone House of 1769. 

Fort Antes. Located on the edge of a plateau overlooking 
Nippenose Creek, at its mouth and commanding the West 
Branch of the Susquehanna river, on the south side, opposite 
the town of Jersey Shore, situated in Lycoming county, near 
line of P & E. R. R. 

Fort Horn. Located on the P. & E. railroad, about midway 
between Pine and McElhattan Stations, in Clinton county. Pa. 

Fort Reid. Located in the town of Lock Haven, Clinton 
county, Penna., on Water street, in close proximity and east of 
the Bald Eagle canal. Fortified, spring of 1777. 

Fort Rice, At Montgomery's, known in turns by each of 
these names. Located in Lewis township, Northumberland 
county, four miles west of Bosley's mills, and two or three 
miles from site of Fort Freeland. 

Respectfully submitted, 

JOHN M. BUCK A LEW. 



THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 



THE FORTS. 



FORT AUGUSTA— AT SUNBURY. 

Was built in 1756, on the ^ast bank of the main river just 
below the junction of the isorth and West branches of the 
Susquehanna that here form the main river, the artillery cov- 
ering the debouchure of the branches, as well as the main 
river, at once closing the path by land and movement by water 
to the settlements below from an enemy; it stood at the upper 
end of the now enterprising town of Sunbury, was a regularly 
laid out fort, and when completed, mounted as the returns of 
the times show, at least twelve cannon and two swivels; quite 
a formidable armament for the time and place; seven blunder- 
busses were also included in its armament; it was one of those 
military necessities barely acted upon in time. 

The causes that led to the building of the fort were: The 
French and English were struggling for the supremacy at this 
time in America. The English, in our State, had pushed set- 
tlements up to the Blue mountains on the north, and were 
moving through the passes of the Alleghenies towards Du- 
quesne: the French owned Canada and the Lakes and had an 
eye to the ultimate conquest of our State or a part of it. Ih 
pursuance of this object, as they held Duquesne, now Pitts- 
burgh, th(\v had fortified Lake Erie nt Presqu' Isle, and run 
a line of forts by the waters of the Allegheny river, from 
Presqu' Isle to Fort Duquesne. The forks of the Susque- 
hanna, after securing their communication with Duquesne at- 
tracted their attention; the branches of the Susquehanna, the 
one rising in one of the lesser lakes in the State of New York, 
the other overlapping some of the branches of the Allegheny, 
offered them water communication a part of the distance to 
the forks of the Susquehanna. When we take into considera- 
tion that P.raddock's defeat had occurred but a year before 
this and their allies, the Indians, were still elated over this 




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THE OLD FORT AUGUSTA GUN. 



MAP OF FORT AUGUSTA. 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 7 

great victory and ready for new conquests; the movements of 
the French at this time indicate this plainly, as shown by the 
Tradition of the Cannon Hole at the Race Ground Island, in 
the West Branch, as told the English by the Indians after 
I)eace, was that a party of French and Indians had left the 
lake country in the fall of 1756 to make permanent advance to 
the forks of the Susquehanna, bringing along three small 
brass cannon. Striking the head waters of the Susquehanna 
(A\ est liraneh), tliey descended by water to about the mouth 
of Loyal Sock creek, where, landing, they sent a reconnoitering 
party to the top of the Blue hill overlooking the forks and Fort 
Augusta, then partially built. Seeing the advancement of the 
fort and the number of men guarding it, considered it impru- 
dent to attack and so reported to the main body who after 
consultation, decided to return; as the water was falling, find- 
ing themselves encumbered with their cannon, they threw 
them in the deep pot hole, or eddy, at the upper end of the old 
time race ground island, which has been known as the Cannon 
Hole ever since. Fort Augusta continued on the alert for 
French aggressions until some time after the capture of Que- 
bec by Wolf in 1759. which virtually decided the control of the 
Canadas and, of course, of the Indian allies of the French. 

The friendly Indians at Shamokin urged Gov. Morris to erect 
a strong house at Shamokin for his and their defence, and as a 
rallying point for such Indians as were or might become 
friendly to the English interests. The Governor was slower to 
comprehend the military necessity of the move than the In- 
dians. After considerable delay he finally secured the consent 
of the Royal Commissioners and, upon the Assembly voting 
£2,000 for the King's use, he directed Colonel William Clap- 
ham to recruit a regiment of four hundred men for that pur- 
pose; when the regiment was completed he furnished him a 
plan of a regular fort to be built on the east bank of the Sus- 
quehanna river, at Shamokin. Col. Clapham, after building 
Fort Halifax and leaving fifty men to garrison it to keep open 
his communications and protect the inhabitants on the upper 
part of his route, arrived at Shamokin in July, 1756, after 
building a protection for his men and stores, proceeded to exe- 
cnfp the Governor's commands, and before winter, had it quite 



8 THE FUONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

secure. Col. Clapham did not remain here a great lengtli of 
time after completing the fort, being called away by other du- 
ties. He was killed by the Indians in 1763, together with his 
family, on Sewickley creek, in Western Pennsylvania. Col. 
James Burd, who succeeded him, continued to strengthen the 
V. ork, as his interesting journal shows. (See Archives, second 
series. Vol. ii, pp. 745-820.) Col. Burd participated in the Bou- 
quet expedition and had command of 582 men. He was in the 
battle of Loyal Hanna (Bushy Eun) and, after that victory, 
accompanied the army to Fort Duquesne. 

For the correspondence in the matter, see History of the 
Forts, Appendix to Penna. Archives, Vol. xii, first series, 
where it is fully collated with references, and shows the mag- 
nitude of the undertaking at so great a distance from his base 
of supplies, with the difficulties of transportation. 

Fort Augusta was at once armed with eight cannon and two 
swivels; the number was increased to twelve, or fifteen can- 
non and two swivels. 

Upon the close of the "French and Indian War," notwith- 
standing the great importance of Fort Augusta as a strategic 
point to the Province, a clamor was raised by the "peace at any 
price" party of that day, and the fort w^as partly dismantled. 
The condition of afPairs in the Province at this time is ably de- 
scribed by Dr. Egle, in his History of Pennsylvania, which 
says; "The situation of the frontiers was truly deplorable ow- 
ing to the supineness of the Provincial authorities, for the 
Quakers who controlled the Government were, to use the lan- 
guage of Lazarus Stewart, 'more solicitous for the welfare of 
the bloodthirsty Indian than for the lives of the frontiersman.' 
In this blind partiality, bigotry and political prejudice they 
would not readily accede to the demands of those of a different 
religious faith. To them, therefore, was greatly attributable 
the reign of horror and devastation in the border counties. 
The Government was deaf to all entreaties, and General Am- 
herst, commander of the British forces in America, did not hes- 
itate to give his feelings an emphatic expression. 'The conduct 
of the Pennsylvania Assembly,' he wrote, *is altogether so in- 
fatuated and stupidly obstinate that I want words to express 
my indignation thereat.' Nevertheless, the sturdv Scotch- 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 9 

Irish aud (iermans of the frontiei* rallied for their own defeuci* 
and the entire force of Colonel Bouquet was comj)osed of 
them." 

Fcrt Augusta, at time of building, held a place of great 
strategic importance, being far in advance of the English set- 
tlements of the Province, holding the only passage by water 
and blocking the pathway along the river by land, to the pio- 
neer settlements below. 

Readily reinforced and provisioned by batteaux from below, 
the country spreading out fan-like before it, requiring an elab- 
orate system of forts in front of it to restrain it; a safe depot 
for supplies and the accumulation of a force for aggression, a 
point where the main Indian paths could be readily reached, 
and communications kept with them and supply them with the 
necessary beads and gew-gaws to keep them on friendly terms, 
or, on the other hand, to restrain them. Here Colonel Hartley 
drew his supplies in part in his famous march to the destruc- 
tion of Tioga in l',7S, returning by way of the North Branch. 
Here, Colonel Plunket organized his expedition against Wy- 
oming, ending in the fiasco of Nanticoke and also ending the 
doughty Colonel's military aspirations. 

After the commencement of the Revolution Fort Augusta 
became the headquarters of this that may be properly termed 
the military department of the upper Susquehanna. Col. 
Hunter was appointed county lieutenant and exercised author- 
ity here to the close of the war. Col, Hartley, with his regi- 
ment was stationed here a part of 1777 and 1778. On the 
breaking out of the Indians these settlements, which had fur- 
nished the main body of their men capable of bearing arms to 
the Continental army cried loudly for aid. After the battle of 
Brandywine, Gen. Washington consolidated the 12th Pennsyl- 
vania regiment that, by its fierce fighting at Brandywine and 
other plnces was almost decimated, with the 3d and 
fith Pennsylvania regiments, mustered out the officers 
and sent them home to help the people organize for 
defence, Capt. John Brady, Capt. Hawkins Boone and 
Capt. Samuel Daugherty being among the number. A 
system of forts wpie decided upon to cover the settlements as 
much as they were possibly able to do so, and were designed 
1* 



10 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

to run across the country from near opposite Nescopeck, com- 
mencing on the north bank of the North Jiranch, where was 
quite a settlement on the river flats; via Meelick's, on Fishing 
creek, to Bosley's mills, covering most of the settlers on Chillis- 
quaque, to Freeland's mill, on Warrior Run, thence to Widow 
Smith's mills on west side of West Branch; thence returning 
to Muncy and thence to Hall's, continuing on up and crossing 
to Antes Fort; continuing up on the south side of the river to 
Mr. Reid's, at now Lock Haven. A few of these places 
were fortified in 1777, but a portion were fortified in the 
spring of 1778. As the Indians became quite active in the 
spring of 1778, the military authorities of Fort Augusta were 
kept very actively engaged. The massacre at Wyoming in 
that year with the Big Runaway, on the West Branch, deluged 
Fort Augusta with the destitute and distressed; already over- 
loaded, they were now overwhelmed. The most of these desti- 
tute and distressed people soon passing down the river, most 
of the garrisons were withdrawn. The Indians soon followed 
and burned everything undefended. At this time the valley 
of the West Branch presented a pitiable spectacle, which it 
did not regain to any extent until peace was proclaimed. 

It has been claimed by some that at the time of the Big Run- 
away Col. Hunter lost his head and precipitated matters by 
withdrawing the garrisons of these forts on the W^est Branch. 
To one looking at his exhausted means for defence we cannot 
see how, as a prudent military man, he could do otherwise. 
Without means to reinforce the feeble garrisons that were 
menaced by a foe more powerful than himself, to have left 
them to their fate w^ould have been improper and likely to 
have been condemned by those who were so ready to find fault 
with him for doing the only thing in his power to do as a mili- 
tary head to this department. Colonel Hunter, at this time, 
had commanded this department fifteen years and knew^ the 
country and its people intimately; had become so thoroughly 
affiliated with their interests as to be one of them ; their fears 
and misfortunes afifected him as they did them. What few 
rays of joy that broke through the black clouds of adversity 
were as exhilarating to liim as to them. He was an open- 
hearted, hospitable, brave, generous man, who eventually 



THE NORTH AND WKST BRANCHES. 11 

speut twenty years of bis life in their service and died in^lTS-l, 
before he saw the full effects of peace, and was buried by the 
side of the fort he so ably defended, and among the people he 
worked for and loved so ardently. He was one of the many 
prominent men who settled in this region. 

General Pottei", who served in the Continental army and 
lived in the Buffalo Valley, was a man of great ability, forced 
by bad health to resign frem the Continental army before the 
close of the Revolution. He was indefatigable in his endeavors 
to resist the foe and place his people in a safe position of de- 
fence. He, too, merits the approbation of the succeeding gen- 
erations. 

Colonel John Kelly and Colonel Hartley are entitled to 
worthy remembrance for the many acts of military ability 
shown by them. 

Moses Van Campen, whose young manhood developed on the 
waters of the Fishing creek, detained by the Committee of 
Safety from the Continental army for the defence of the fron- 
tiers, spent the summer of 1777 in Colonel Kelly's regiment in 
holding Fort Reid and scouting duty, being orderly sergeant of 
Captain Gaskin's company. In 1778 we find him a lieutenant, 
and early in the season building Fort Wheeler on the Fishing 
creek and on scouting duties; in 1779 scouting duties and 
quartermaster to collect stores for Sullivan's army. Arriving 
at Tioga he volunteered, with many important scouts intrusted 
to him, in which lie acquitted himself well. In 1780, captured 
by the Indians, liis father, brother and uncle killed, he, Peter 
Pence and Abram Pike, rising on their captors, killed nine 
and wounded the only remaining one. This was about fifteen 
miles below Tioga; 1781 engaged in scouting and looking after 
tories; winter spent in guarding British prisoners; spring of 
1782 marched Robinson's Rangers, of which he was lieutenant, 
back to Northumberland; after a few day's rest, ordered to 
rebuild Fort Muncy. Having commenced the work, on arrival 
of his captain he was sent with a detail of men to the neigbor- 
hood of the Big Island, where he was attacked by a large body 
of Indians led by a white man. when in the fight that ensued, 
his party were killed or captured, he included among the 
latter, ran the gauntlet at the Indian towns. Fortune favored 



I of C. 



12 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

liirn, aud lie was not lecojrnized as the leader who killed the In- 
dians when a captive until after he was sold to the EnjrlislL 
A tedious captivity ensued, enlivened occasionally by practica* 
jokes, etc. He was at last exchanj^ed and returned home, 
where, after recruitinji: his health he was sent to assist garri- 
soning Fort Wilkes-P»arre. At this place he remained to the 
close of the war. Having.during his service, built Fort AVheeler 
and defended it for a time, built Fort McClure and assisted at 
rebuilding Fort Muncy, besides being actively engaged on fron- 
tier duties from the commencement to the close of the war. He 
removed to the state of New York before 1800 where, after an 
active life as surveyor and engineer he died, at the advanced 
age of ninety-two, universally respected. 

Visiting with the Forts Commission the ruins of Fort Au- 
gusta in the summer of 1894, under the guidance of Mr. M. L. 
Hendricks, of Sunbury, we found the magazine still there and 
in good condition. John F. Meginness, in his Otzinachson, or 
History of the West liranch Valley, page 200, gives a descrip- 
tion of it as we saw it: "The magazine was built according to 
report, on plans of Capt. Gordon, who served as engineer, and 
to-day is still in a good state of preservation, being the only 
evidence of the existence of the fort. It is located in a small 
lield about sixty feet south of the brick house known as the 
'Hunter Mansion,' and one hundred and sixty-five feet from 
the river bank. A small mound of earth marks the spot where 
it may be found, and upon examination an opening in the 
ground is discovered which is two and a half feet wide. There 
are twelve four-inch stone steps leading below. On descend- 
ing these steps tlie ground space inside the magazine is found 
to be 10x12 feet, and it is eight feet from the floor to the apex 
of the arched ceiling. The arch is of brick and commences on 
an offset purposely made in the wall five feet above the ground 
floor. The brick are of English manufacture and were trans- 
ported from Philadelphia to Harris's and then up the river by 
batteaux. On entering the ancient magazine one is reminded 
of a huge bake oven: it has been stated that an underground 
passage led from the magazine to the river, but has been closed 
up. Although a break or narrow cave-in in the river bank di- 
rectly o])posite the magazine which had existed for years 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 13 

would indicate thai such was the fact, yet there is no evidence 
on the inside walls that there ever was such a passage. A re- 
cent careful examination failed to show any signs of an open- 
ing having existed. The stone basement walls are as solid ap- 
parently as when they were first laid. There are no marks or 
other evidence whatever that there had been an opening in the 
wall or that it had been closed up since the construction of the 
magazine." (Query: Would a magazine in a warlike fort have 
communication with the outside world.) "There was such a 
passage starting from one of the angles of the fort, but it had 
no connection with the magazine." 

There is but one of the cannon that was formerly mounted 
upon the fort known to be in existence. Mr. Hendricks took 
the commission to Fire Engine House No. 1 and showed us the 
highly prized relic. Dr. R. H. Awl, of Sunbury, furnished J. F. 
Meginness its history for his History of the West Branch Val- 
ley and a cut of the old cannon. It is securely fastened and 
carefully guarded. It is supposed it was thrown in the river 
at the time of the great Runaway in 1778, after being spiked. 
In 1798 it was reclaimed from the river by George and Jacob 
Mantz, yarauel Hahn and George Shoop. After heating, by 
burning several cords of hickory wood, they succeeded in drill- 
ing out the spiked file. It has had quite a checkered experi 
ence, being stolen from one place to another to serve the dif- 
ferent political parti.es, between times hidden in places con- 
sidered secure until 1834, when Dr. R. H. Awl and ten other 
young men of Sunbury made a raid on Selinsgrove at night, se- 
cured the much-prized relic and have retained it ever since. 
Of the eleven young men engaged in its rescue sixty years ago 
the doctor is the only one living to tell the tale of its return. 
II is of English make, weighs about one thousand pounds and 
has about three and one-half inch bore. A drunken negro 
sledged off the ring at the muzzle, out of pure wantonness in 
1838. 

The Maclay mansion, built by William Maclay, one of the 
most prominent citizens of his time, in 1773, is a historic build- 
ing. The back part of the lot was stockaded during the Revo- 
lution. The house is built of limestone and is now owned and 
occupied by Hon. S. P. Wolverton, present member of Con- 



14 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

gress from this district, who prizes it highly for its antiquity 
and historic reminiscences. 

Near here Conrad Weiser built the "Locke house" for Shick- 
elimy in 1754, the first building in the "Shamokin country," 
and built for a place to confine refractory Indians. Shick- 
elimy is said to have at one time exercised almost unlimited 
control over the Indian tribes, north, west and south. Here 
the Vice-King died and was buried in 1.759. When the grave 
of Shickelimy was removed some years ago, Mr. M. L. Hen- 
dricks, the antiquarian of Sunbury, secured the strings of 
wampum, the pipe and many other relics that were buried 
with the Vice-King. He was the father of Logan, the Mingo 
chief. 

The Bloody Spring. The Hon. S. P. Wolverton also owns the 
land on which this spring is located. Its history, as related 
by Col. Samuel Miles, is as follows, and shows the constant 
danger menacing the garrisons of Fort Augusta. In the sum- 
mer of 1756, I was nearly taken prisoner by the Indians. At 
about half a mile distant from the fort stood a large tree that 
bore excellent plums, in an open piece of ground, near what is 
now trailed the Bloody Spring. Lieut. S. Atlee and myself one 
day took a walk to this tree to gather plums. While we were 
there a party of Indians lay a short distance from us, concealed 
in the thicket, and had nearly gotten between us and the fort, 
when a soldier belonging to the Bullock guard not far from 
us came ro the spring to drink. The Indians were thereby in 
danger of discovery and in consequence thereof fired at and 
killed the soldier, by which means we got off and returned to 
the fort in much less time than we were coming out. The res- 
cuing party from the fort found the soldier scalped and his 
blood trickling into the spring, giving the water a crimson 
hue, and was ever afterwards called the Bloody Spring. John 
F. Meginness, who visited this spring a few years ago, says: 
"This historic spring is located on the hillside. The space oc- 
cupied by it is about the size of an ordinary town lot, and it 
looks as if it might have been dug out and the earth taken 
away with horse and cart. The distance across is about 
twenty-five feet and has a depth of ten or twelve feet, and then 
runs out with the declivity. The spring has been gradually 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. IS 

filling up and there is no doubt it would flow constantly if it 
were cleaned out. The spring now only runs over a couple of 
months in the spring of the year. 

The Blue Hill, standing out boldly, opposite Northumber- 
land, is here in bold relief surmounted in our younger days by 
Mason's observatory overhanging the cliff of some four hun- 
dred feet in height; it is now capped by a fine health resort 
hotel. 

The famous thief, Joe Disbury, was tried at Sunbury in 
1784 for some of his many misdemeanors, found guilty, sen- 
tenced to receive thirty-nine lashes, stand in the pillory one 
hour, have his ears cut off and nailed to the post, that be im- 
prisoned three months, and pay a fine of £30. The venerable 
Dr. Awl still shows the place on the old square where punish- 
ment was inflicted by the pillory and whipping post. The fam- 
ous Dr. Plunket, after attaining notoriety as a military leader, 
took to the bench. As a jurist he dispensed law impartially; 
as to "rogues," he saw they did not go unwhipped of justice. 



FORT JENKINS. 

Fort Jenkins was erected in the fall of 1777, or the winter 
and early spring of 1778. From its size inside the stockades, 
60x80 feet, we incline to the former date. Mr. Jenkins, the 
owner of the house around which the stockade was erected, 
had been a merchant in Philadelphia, of means, and at this 
time there was quite a number of settlers within three miles 
whom he might get to assist at a work of this kind. 

If built by Colonel Hartley's men, one would suppose they 
would have built it larger, to hold Mr. Jenkins' family, the set- 
tlers and their families in an emergency, and at least thirty of 
themselves, and one would also suppose Col. Hartley would 
have mentioned it or been credited with its building, as he was 
with Fort Mnncy. It was a stockade enclosing the dwelling of 
Mr. Jenkins, the proprietor of the land, and from present ap- 
pearances a second building was included, as cellar depression 
would indicate, it probably dated with the stockading, and had 



16 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

a lookout place on the roof which was a common thing in those 
perilous times. It is situated on a high bank, or tlat, ou the 
North Branch of the Susquehanna and overlooks the river, 
about twenty rods distant, as well as the country around, 
about midway between now the thriving towns of Berwick and 
Bloomsburg, in Columbia county. The first we hear of Fort 
Jenkins is from Lieut. Moses Van Campen. When building 
Fort Wheeler he was attacked by Indians, in the month of 
IMay, 1778, and running short of ammunition, he sent two men 
at night across the country about eight miles to F.ort Jenkins; 
they returned next morning before dawn with an ample sup 
ply. (Life of Moses Van Campen, page 51.) 

It was the right flanking defence of the line running from 
here, on the North Branch to the West Branch, at White Deer 
and thence to Lock Haven; here it was near the Connecticut 
settlements in Salem township, now Luzerne county. It cov- 
ered the river and was a place of importance, and in conjunc- 
tion with Wheeler, on the Fishing creek, covered the settlers 
within their line to the river, from ordinary raids. 

Mr. Jenkins sold the property to James Wilson, one of 
the signers of the Declaration of Independence, who, in turn, 
sold it to Capt. Frederick Hill, who moved upon it and erected 
a dwelling on the site of Fort Jenkins, where he built and kept 
a hotel, and in memory of the old fort named it the Fort Jenk- 
ins Hotel. In the old days of stage coaches it was a well- 
known hostelry. When he was too old for business his son, 
Jacob, succeeded him and kept up the reputation of the place, 
until, by some chance, he became converted among the Metho- 
dists, when (having plenty of the sterling material they make 
good citizens of within him) cut down his sign post, tore out 
his bar and devoted himself to his farm, which is a fine one. 
and to the rearing of his family in the paths of rectitude and 
virtue, in wliir>li lic was very successful. Hero^ was born liis 
son. Charles F. Hill, now of Hazleton, an archaeologist of con- 
siderable note in this region of country, to whom we are in- 
debted for gathering and preserving many of the facts connect 
ed with Fort Jenkins. On September 9, 1893, I met Mr. C. F. 
Hill, at the site of the fort. 

He pointed out that the farm house stood upon the site of 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 17 

the Jenkins liouse, that the cellar wall was sat on the original 
foundation; that the well at the farm house was dug inside the 
oaken palisades, of the fort during the Kevolution, being sev- 
enty-five feet deep and down into the limestone rock. Also 
where, when a boy, he recollected seeing the remains of the 
oak palisades still visible in his time; the place where his 
father had shown him the Indians who were killed in the vicin- 
ity were buried; the ground where the whites, civilians and 
soldiers, who were killed in tights with Indians or died of dis- 
ease were buried; some half dozen apple trees yet remaining 
of the orchard planted by Mr. Jenkins before the Kevolution, 
bearing signs of great age, the orchard planted by his grand- 
father showing less signs of age. The spot where, in digging 
the foundation to the present kitchen attached to the present 
farm house he had found the sunken, tire place and hearth, 
with bricks about six inches square, unlike anything he had 
ever seen, supposed they were of English make and had been 
brought up the river in boats. He also pointed out where an 
island of tive acres, as he remembers it, stood in the river so 
heavily timbered as to prevent a view from the tort to the 
other side, of which not a sign now remains, heavy floods hav- 
ing destroyed it elfectually; also, where Nathan Beach's 
father's cabin stood, by the ^S'orth Branch canal, but under the 
guns of the fort. The canal passes between the site of the 
fori and river ut the foot of the plateau, on which the 
fort stood. Outside the fort stood the cabin of a family whose 
name I have dropped; it consisted of at least six persons and is 
referred to by (Jol. Hunter under date of 20 May, 1771), writing 
from Fort Augusta, "there has been no mischief done in this 
county since the 17th instant; that there was a family of four 
persons killed and scalped about twenty-seven miles above 
this, on the North Branch opposite to Fort Jenkins. Suppose 
there are Indians seen every day one place or another on our 
frontiers." 

The story of this massacre, as related by Mr. Hill is, the 
parents sendini; two of their children, a boy and girl, to the 
neighborhood of Catawissa, for some necessaries, the children 
took the path on the hill back of the cabin running parallel 
with the river. After proceeding some distance they came to 



18 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

the remams of a recent fire, where mussels from the river had 
been roasted. Becoming alai*med, they turned back for home, 
and, on arriving at end of hill overlooking their house, they 
saw it in flames and Indians disappearing from the clearing 
into the woods. On descending they found their family they 
had left in health a short time before, killed and scalped and 
themselves homeless orphans. This occurred directly op- 
posite the fort and almost within reach of the rifles, but con- 
cealed from view of the garrison by the forest of the island 
and shore. Their first notice came with smoke of the burning 
cabin, the Indians disappearing as rapidly as they came." 

Col. Hunter says, in reference to the removal of Col. Hub- 
ley's regiment toward Wyoming: "This leaves Fort Muncy and 
Fort Jenkins vacant at this critical time, being harvest time. 
(Vol. xii, Appendix, p. 381.) Col. Hunter, November 27, pro- 
poses to send twenty-five men to Fort Jenkins for the support 
and protection of the distressed inhabitants." (p. 381.) ''Col. 
LudwigWeltner writes to the Board of War, December 13,1779, 
in reference to the posture of several forts, on his taking com- 
mand. I found Fort Muncy, on the West, and Fort Jenkins, 
on the East branch, with the magazine at Sunbury, to have 
been the only standing posts that were occupied, (p. 381.) 

"April 2, 1780; the savages, the day before yesterday, took 
seven or eight prisoners about two miles above Fort Jenkins, 
and, comparing the condition of things with what it was 
twelve months before, when the forts were well garrisoned, 
Col. Hunter says, now we have but about thirty men at Fort 
Jenkins, which was not able to spare enough men out of the 
garrison to pursue the enemy that carried off the prisoners." 
"On the 9th," Col. Weltner writes from Northumberland and 
says, "I have manned three material outposts, viz: Fort Jen- 
kins, Fort Montgomery (Fort Rice at Montgomery's) and Bos- 
ley's Mills. Col. James Potter writes from Sunbury, Sept. 18, 
1780, that the enemy burned and destroyed everything in their 
power and on their going they sent a party and burnt 
the fort and buildings at Fort Jenkins, which had been evacn- 
ated a few days before, on the enemy appearing at Fort Rice." 
Nathan Beach, Esq., an old and highly respected as well as 
widely-known citizen of Luzerne county (in Miner's Historv of 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 19 

Wyoming, Appendix, p. 36), says: "In the year 1761) my father 
removed with his family from the State of New York to the 
Valley of Wyoming, now Luzerne county, State of Pennsyl- 
vania, w'here he continued to reside within the limits of the 
said county until the 4th day of July, 1778, the day after the 
Wyoming Massacre, so-called, when the inhabitants, to wit, all 
those who had escaped the tomahawk and scalping knife fled 
in every direction to places of security. About the first of Au- 
gust following, I returned with my father and Thomas Dodson 
to secure our harvest, which we had left in the fields. While 
we were engaged in securing our harvest as aforesaid, I was 
taken prisoner by the Indians and Tories; made my escape the 
day following. In the fall of the same year, 1778, my father 
and family went to live at Fort Jenkins (Columbia county. Fa.). 
I was there employed with others of the citizens and sent out 
on scouting parties by Capt Swany (Capt. Isaac Sweeney of 
Col. Hartley's Eleventh Pennsylvania regiment), "commander 
of the fort, and belonging to Col. Hartley's regiment of the 
Pennsylvania line. Continued at said fort until about the first 
of June, 1779, during which time had a number of skirmishes 
with the Indians. In May the Indians, thirty-five in number, 
made an attack on some families that lived one mile from the 
fort and took three families prisoners, twenty-two in number. 
Information having been received at the fort. Ensign Thorn- 
bury (Ensign Francis Thornbury of the Lieut. Cols. Company 
afterw' ards transferred to Third Pennsylvania) was sent out by 
the captain in pursuit of the Indians with twenty soldiers, my- 
self and three others of the citizens also went, making twenty- 
four. We came up with them — a sharp engagement ensued, 
which lasted about thirty minutes, during which time we had 
four men killed and five wounded out of the twenty-four. As 
we were compelled to retreat to the fort, leaving our dead on 
the OTOund. the Indians took their scalps. During our en- 
gagement with the Indians the prisoners before mentioned 
made their escape and got safe to the fort. The names of the 
heads of those families taken prisoners as aforesaid were Bart- 
let Kamey, Christopher Forrow and Joseph Dewey; the first 
named, Bartley Ramey, was killed by the Indians. Soon after 
the aforesaid engagement i^i June, I entered the boat depart- 



20 THE FHONTIEK FOKTS BETWEEN 

ment, boats havinfr been built at Middletown, Dauphin county, 
called Continental boats made for the purpose of transporting 
the baggage, provisions, etc., of Genl. Sullivan's army, which 
was on its march to destroy the Indian towns in the lake coun- 
try, in the State of New York. I steered one of these boats to 
Tioga Point, where we discharged our loading and 1 returned 
to Fort Jenkins in August, where I found our family. The In- 
dians still continued to be troublesome; my father thought it 
advisable to leave the country and go to a place of more safety. 
We left the Susquehanna, crossed the mountains to North- 
ampton county, in the neighborhool of Bethlehem, this being 
the fall of 1771). Nathan Beach says our family Record says I 
was born July, 17G3, near a place now called Hudson, conse- 
quently he was at that time but little past sixteen." Show- 
ing the development of the boys of that period into men under 
the pressure of the circumstances in which they were placed, 
his case is not an exceptional one. 

Fort Jenkins, built in the fall of 1777 or early spring of 1778, 
was garrisoned by about thirty men under Col. Hartley. Col. 
Adam Hubley, Jr., who succeeded him, marched the regiment 
away, when County Lieut. Col. Hunter furnished a few men 
who, with the citizens of the neighborhood held the fort until 
the arrival of Col. l.udwig Weltner with tlie German Battalion 
about the latter part of 1779, e-n their return from the Sullivan 
campaign. After )-emainiug at Wilkes-Barre on guard for some 
time, ^^■eltner's sturdy Germans held the post until the 5th or 
Oth of September, 1780, when, on the attack on Fort Rice by 
250 or 300 Tories and Indians, the garrison was withdrawn to 
go to the support of Fort Rice and Fort Augusta. 

On failure to capture the fort, the Tories and Indians broke 
into snmller parties, overrun the country with tomahawk and 
fire. One large company moved east by end of the Nob Moun- 
tain to the river; finding Fort Jenkins abandoned they set fire 
to it and to the buildings in the neighborhood on the 9th of 
September; they commenced to cut down the orchard j^lanted 
by Mr. Jenkins before the Revolution. It is supposed their at- 
tention was called from this by news of the approach of Capt. 
Klader with a company of Northampton county militia, when 
they suddenly decamped, crossed the river in the neighbor- 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 21 

hood of now i>(M-wick, went on to Sugarloaf, in Luzerne 
county, where they ambuscaded the militia, killed or captured 
the greater portion of them, broke up the expedition, relieved 
their Tory friends of fear of capture and expulsion of their 
families. The Indians are said to have passed up east of Wy- 
oming to their homes in the lake country. Port Jenkins, from 
the many raids in its neighborhood, shows to have been much 
in the wav of the Indians. 



FORT VVHEELEH. 

Lieut. Moses \'an Campea says, " Early in the month 
of April, 1778, he was ordered to go with his men up the 
North Branch of the Susquehanna river to the mouth of Fish- 
ing creek and follow up this three miles to a compact settle- 
ment, located in that region, and build a fort for the reception 
of the inhabitants in case of an attack from the Indians. 
News had come thus early of their having visited the outer 
line of settlements and of their committing depredations, so 
that terrified messengers were arriving almost daily, bringing 
the sad news of houses burned, victims scalped and of families 
carried into captivity. 

"It was no time to be idle; a few days, it might be a few hours, 
audthesavagemightbeamongstthose whom he was appointed 
to guard and repeat these scenes of cruelty and blood. He and 
his men, his command of twenty men, who, as well as himself, 
were familiar with the country, expert in the use of the rifle 
and acquainted with the Indian modes of warfare, without de- 
lay they entered vigorously upon the work, selecting a site for 
the fort on the farm of Mr. Wheeler (hence, when completed, it 
was called Fort Wheeler). It was built of stockades and suf- 
ficiently large to accommodate all the families of the neighbor- 
hood. Anticipating an early approach of the foe, they worked 
with a will to bring the fort to completion or at least into a 
condition that would afford some protection in case of an at- 
tack. The Indians, in approaching the border settlements, 



22 THJE FRONTIEK FORTS BETWEEN 

usually stiuck upon the head waters of some of the streams 
upon which settlers were located and followed them dowL 
through valley or mountain detile until they came near a white 
man's house, when they would divide so as to fall in small 
companies upon different habitations at the same time. "Be- 
fore the fort was completed a runner came flying with the 
speed of the wind to announce the approach of a large party of 
savages. The inhabitants gathered into the fort with quick 
and hasty rush, taking with them what valuables they could, 
and leaving their cheerful homes to the undisputed sway of the 
enemy. Very soon the Indiiins came prowling around under 
cover of the woods and all at once, with wild yells, burst forth 
upon the peaceful farmhouses of the settlement. Fortunately, 
the inmates were not there to become victims of the toma- 
hawk and scalping knife. From the elevated position of the 
fort the inhabitants could see their dwellings entered, their 
feather beds and blankets carried out and scattered around 
with frantic cries and very soon after the flame and smoke 
leap to the tops of their houses and, finally, the whole settle 
down into a quiet heap of ashes. The Indians spent most of 
the day in pillaging and burning houses, some of them made 
an attack on the fort but to little purpose. Van Campen and 
his men were actively engaged in preparing for a vigorous de- 
fence in case of an attack to storm their unfinished works. 
They were successful in surrounding the fort at a distance of 
four rods with a barricade "made with brush and stakes, the 
ends sharpened and locked into each other so that it was diffi- 
cult to remove them and almost impossible for one to get 
through. The Indians, seeing this obstruction, were disposed 
to fire at them from a distance, and keep concealed behind the 
bushes. Their shots were promptly returned and a brisk firing 
was kept up all the time till evening. It was expected that 
the Indians would renew the attack the next morning and, as 
the ammunition of the fort was nearly expended, Van Campen 
sent two of his men to Fort Jenkins, about eight miles distant, 
on the Susquehanna, who returned next morning before dawn 
of day with a plentiful supply of pow^der and lead. The re- 
maining hours of darkness were spent in running bullets and 
in malving needed preparation for the encounter they were 



tAe north and west branches. 23 

looking for on the approaching day. They judged from what 
they Icnew of the superior force of the enemy and from the ac- 
tivity already displayed that the struggle would be severe." 
In the morning they found the enem^' had disappeared. "The 
Indians, not liking the preparations made to receive them, re- 
tired, leaving blood on the ground, but nothing else that 
would indicate their loss. But the Indians, not satisfied with 
this visit made another attempt to surprise this fort in the 
month of June. On one evening in the month of June," says 
Lieut. Van Campen, "just at the time when the women and 
girls were milking their cows, a sentinel called my attention to 
a movement in the bushes not far off, which I soon discovered 
to be a party of Indians making their way to the cattle yard. 
There was no time to be lost. I immediately selected ten of 
my sharpshooters and, under cover of a rise of ground, crept 
between them and the milkers. On ascending the ridge we 
found ourselves within pistol shot of our lurking foes. I fired 
first and killed the leader; this produced an instant panic 
among the party, and they all flew away like a flock of birds, 
A volley from my men did no further execution ; it only made 
the woods echo with the tremendous roar of their rifles; it 
sounded such an unexpected alarm in the ears of the honest 
dairy women that they were still more terribly frightened than 
the Indians. They started upon their feet, screamed aloud 
and ran with all their might, fearful lest the enemy should be 
upon them. In the mean time the milk pails flew in every di- 
rection and the milk was scattered to the winds. The best 
runner got in first." Lieut. Van Campen appears to have made 
Fort Wheeler his headquarters this season when not engaged 
in scouting. After the Sullivan campaign, in the fall of 1779. 
when Van Campen returned to Fort Wheeler, his father living 
there — leaving lliere late in March, 1780. 

Fort Wheeler, the traditions of the many descendants of the 
men who occupied the fort say, was not abandoned but held by 
hardy settlers, when not garrisoned by troops and that it is 
the only one of its date of the line in front of Fort Augusta 
that was not destroyed. Of couse, I do not include McClure, 
Rice or Swartz. as they were built later. Near here lived 
Peter Meelick. who served as one of the committee of safety 



24 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

for this Wyoming township from its institution until super- 
ceded by another system. 

There is nothing to-day to indicate where the fort stood 
except the spring is there. Mr. William Creveling, who owns 
the property, says many years ago he ploughed up the firo 
place. 

O. B. Melick, Esq., of Tiloorasburg, says the place his grand- 
father, the Peter Meelick above named, and his father fixed 
upon as the site of Fort Wheeler is the same as that shown by 
Mr. Creveling. Mr. Theodore McDowell, since dead, showed 
the same site as the one he and his comrades when boys used 
to visit as the remains of Fort Wheeler. The grave yard, 
where the soldiers and others were buried, about thirty rods 
from the site, I regret to say, is not cared for. There is not a 
dissenting voice as to the site, but a unanimity rarely found. 

Mr. Isaiah Wheeler, on whose land the fort was built, and 
whose dwelling the stockades enclosed, was a settler who came 
here from the State of New Jersey, and some accounts say he 
died and was buried here. Col. Joseph Salmon, a man of 
prominence as a scout and of extraordinary courage in these 
times, when examples of courage were not rare, married one 
of his daughters. It is said an open manly rivalry existed be- 
tween Van Campen and Salmon for her hand, when Salmon 
distanced the lieutenant and won the damsel. 

Mr. Joseph Crawford, an old and respected citizen of Orange- 
ville, says his father, John Crawford, was born in Fort 
Wheeler soon after its completion in 1778, being the second 
white child born in this vicinitv. 



McCLURE'S FORT 

Col. Freeze says, the year 1777 and the next four or five fol- 
lowing, were years of great activity and danger in the Indian 
fighting in and about what was originally Columbia county. 
The regular military authorities had done their best to protect 
the frontiers of the Pennsylvania settlements, but they had 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 25 

few oUicei's and fewer men to spare from the Federal army, 
and therefore, the defense of the settlements fell upon the 
local heroes and heroines of the Forts of the Susquehanna. 

A chain of forts, more or less protective had been construct- 
ed, reaching from the West Branch to the North Branch of the 
Susquehanna, comprising Fort Muncy, Fort Freeland, Fort 
Montgomery, Bosley's Mills, Fort Wheeler and Fort Jenkins. 
The great war path through the valley, known as the "The 
Fishing Creek Path," started on the flats, near Bloomsburg, 
on the North Branch, up Fishing creek to Orangeville, on to 
near Long Pond, now called Ganoga Lake, thence across to 
Tunkhannock creek.* It was on this very path that Van Camp- 
en, the most Droniinent Indian fighter on the North Branch 
was captured, in 1780, and no man better than he knew the 
great necessities of the section. 

The destruction of Fort Jenkins in 1780 had exposed the 
right flank of the protecting forts and the Indian marauders 
made wild work among our defenseless frontiers. On his (Van 
Campen's) return from captivity he assisted in organizing a 
new force, repairing the forts dismantled or abandoned, and 
also stockaded the residence of Mrs. James McClure, and the 
place was thereafter known as McClure's Fort. It is on the 
north bank of ilie North Branch of the river Susquehanna, 
and is reported to haA'e occupied the exact site of the present 
dwelling house of the late Douglas Hughes, below Blooms- 
burg, about one mile above the mouth of Fishing creek. It 
was an accessible point and gave the command of the military 
line across the river valley. It became the headquarters for 
stores and expeditions, and was an important point so long as 
it was necessary to maintain fortifications on the river. 

It does not seem to have ever been formally attacked, but 
there are traditions of lurking savages and hurried embark- 
ings upon boats and canoes and the protection of the wide 
Susquehanna. 

How thrilling soever these adventures may have been they 
are now forgotten. 

Note — Col. Freeze is mistaken ; the Indians with Van ('anipen and 
Penre, followed the path up the east branch of Ushin^ Creek, known as 
Huntington Creek, and in Huntinpjton township, fired on Col. .lolin Frank- 
lin's men, slightly wounding Capt. Ransom, as related by Moses Van 
Campen. ' j. m. B. 



26 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

"Time rolls his ceaseless course; the race of yore, 
Who danced our infancy upon their knee, 

And told our marvelling boyhood legends store 
Of their strange ventures happ'd by land or sea, 
How are they blotted from the things that be! 



FORT BOSLEY, OR BOSLEY'S MILLS. 

Fort Bosley was situatf^d in the forks of the Chillis- 
quaqua, at ^'^'ashingtonville, Derry township, Montour 
county, and was the grist mill of a Mr. Bosley, who moved 
here from Maryland a few years before the Revolution, bring- 
ing his slaves with him. He built the mill, it is said, in 1773; 
it is supposed he fortified (stockaded) the mill in 1777; upon 
the Indians becoming troublesome it was garrisoned by troops 
and recognized by the military authorities as of importance. 
After the fall of Fort Freeland it became more' so, holding the 
forks of the Chillisquaque and defending the stream below it. 

The Chillisquaque Valley and its surroundings are among 
the most beautiful in the State. At Washingtonville, the main 
stream is formed by one considerable branch coming from the 
Muncy Hills, following through the rich lime stone lands to 
the south. The east branch here joins it, making a fine stream 
that then flows southwesterly to the river. This great scope 
of fine arable lands attracted settlers early, Bosley's Mills be- 
came a necessity, and, situated as it was, within the forks 
about sixty to eighty rods above the junction of the branches, 
on the east bank of the North Branch of these streams. It 
soon became widely known; roads and paths led to it as a cen- 
tral point, and on the Indians becoming troublesome and the 
mill fortified, it became a haven of refuge at which the wives 
and families could be placed in safety at alarms, while the 
husband and father scouted for intelligence of the foe or de- 
fended the fort. As Bosley's Mills do not appear to have had 
a heavy garrison of troops (twenty men at most) at any time, 
the garrison was most probably augmented by the near set 
tiers, of which there was quite a number. It must have been 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 27 

Strong, as we have no account of any attack on the place, lying 
as it does below the great war path through or over the Muncy 
Hills, it must have been looked upon by the foe as strong. 

Col. Hunter to Prest. Reed, dated Fort Augusta, June 2G, 
1779, says: "Your favor of ye 2d Inst. I received by Mr. Martin 
and I am sorry to acquaint you it was not in my power to send 
any of the Ranging Company to assist at Guarding the stores 
up here from EsJherton. as what few men Capt. Kemplon had 
under his command was stationed at Bosley's Mills on Chilis- 
<]uaqua." (See Penna. Archives, vol. vii, p. 510.) 

Lieut. Col. Weltner to Board of War, dated Northumber- 
land. April 9, 1780, says: "I have this moment received an ex- 
press from the West branch, about 12 miles from this Town 
that the Indians have killed and scalped one man and two chil- 
dren, took one woman prisoner, but she happily made her es- 
scape from them in the night. The country is very much 
alarmed, and likely to go to the flight as they cannot be sup- 
plied with provisions, ammunition or flints, as these commodi- 
ties being so very scarce. I have manned three material out- 
posts, viz: Fort Jenkins, Fort Montgomery and Bosley's Mills. 
It is out of my power to scatter my men any more, as I have 
scarcely as many in Town as will man 2 pieces of artillery." 

The site of the old mill is recognized readily by the race and 
mill site and is on the land of Jesse Umstead, Jr., at the lower 
end of the built up town of to-day. The head race has been 
continued on across the road and utilizes the old dam site and 
head race for a modern mill. 



FORT RICE. 

Fort Rice, at Montgomery's, sometimes written of by one 
name by the military and other authorities and at another by 
the other until it was supposed to indicate two separate forts. 
It is located in Lewis township, Northumberland county. Pa. 

In 1769 William Patterson patented seven hundred acres of 
land on which Fort Rice was situated. On account of its 
handsome appearance and the fertility of its soil he named it 



28 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

I'aradise. Meginness is correct in saying "For rural beauty, 
fertility of soil and charming surroundings, with healthful- 
ness, it is not excelled by any district in the United States, 
and the name Paradise was worthily bestowed." The country 
is gently rolling and under a high state of cultivation. Neat 
farm mansions with capacious barns are seen in all directions, 
and what adds to the beauty of the scene are the open groves 
of oak and other hard wood, free from underbrush, and a reg- 
ularity almost equal to being planted by the hand of man, 
among which scores of gray squirrels may be seen sporting in 
the woods without fear of the pot hunters or poachers. Mr. 
Patterson exchanged this Paradise farm with John Montgom- 
ery, of Paxtang, in 1771, for his farm in that settlement. The 
descendants of John Montgomery still reside on these lands. 
The Montgomery family became widely known for their ability 
and integrity. At the time of the capture of Fort Freeland, 
July 28, 1779, John Montgomery living here, heard the firing; 
mounting two of his young sons on horses he sent them to the 
top of a hill to "learn the cause of the tiring. On arriving at the 
brow of the hill overlooking the creek they discovered the fort 
on fire and a fight raging in the timber some distance below. 
They returned and reported what they had seen; he loaded up 
his family in a wagon, with what provision and clothing they 
could carry and hurriedly drove across the country to the 
cabin of William Davis. After informing him what was going 
on he gathered up his family and proceeded to Fort Augusta." 
— (Meginness.) 

The Indians burned Mr. Montgomery's house; he took his 
family to Paxtang, where they remained to the close of the 
war. The Indians burned the house and everything; in con- 
sequence of the fall of Fort Freeland it became necessary 
to fill its place by another. McClung's place, which, I under- 
stand, was between Freeland and the Montgomery farm, was 
first selected, but it was decided to be impracticable, when, 
finally the Montgomery farm was selected, and here Captain 
Rice, of Col. ^Veltner's German Regiment, erected it in the fall 
and winter of 1771) and 80. It was built around and enclosed 
the fine spring at the burned residence of John Montgomery, 
and remains to-dav a lasting tribute to the excellencv of the 



m»fm*.^^mmi ' iii^^mi^ ' 




FORT KICK, AT M()NT(iUMERY'S, 

NORTHDMBERI. \ND COUNTY. 



THE iNOKTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 



29 



work of dipt. Rice's Tennsylvania Germans. First, buildiuj^ a 
stockade for security they completed it, building it out of sur- 
face limestone. They occupied and defended it ably. The 
only attack made on the fort itself we have any record of oc- 
curred in the beginning of September, 1780. A letter from Col. 
Samuel Hunter, at Sunbury, Sept. 21, 1780, found in Vol. viii, 
p. 567, Penna. Archives, saying: "We w^ere alarmed by a large 
party of the enemy making their appearance in our county on 
the Gth inst. They came first to a small fort that Col. Welt- 
ner's troops had erected on the headwaters of the Chilisquake, 
called Fort Kice, about thirteen miles from Sunbury (17), when 
the German Regiment marched off the enemy attacked the 
fort about sundow'u and fired very smartly. The garrison re- 
turned the fire with spirit, which made theui withdraw a little 
off, and in the night they began to set fire to a number of 
houses and stacks of grain which they consumed. In the 
meantime our militia had collected to the number of one hun- 
dred men under the command of Col. John Kelly, who march- 
ed to the relief of the Garrison, and arrived there next day. 
The people in the Garrison acquainted Col. Kelly that there 
must be two hundred and fifty or three Hundred of the Enimy, 
which he did not think prudent to engage without being 
Reinforced. The confusion this put the inhabitants in, it was 
not easy to collect a party equal to fight the savages. I im- 
mediately sent off an express to Col. Purdy on Juneate whom 
I heard was marching to the Frontiers of Cumberland County 
with the militia, he came as quick as possible to our assistance 
with one Hundred and ten of the militia and about Eighty 
Volunteers, which was no small Reinforcement to us. Genl. 
Potter Just coming home from camp at this critical time came 
up to Sunbury and took command of the party that went in 
Quest of the Enimy, But previous to his marching, dis- 
charge the Volunteers as he concluded by the information he 
had received from spyes we had out that the enemy did not 
exceed one Hundred and fifty and that they had withdrawn 
fiom the inhabitants to some Remote place. General Potter, 
However, marched on to ]\runcy Hills, but was a little PafHod 
by the information of their route and did not come on their 
*irack till the l.'^th and followed on about 50 miles up fishing 



3U THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

creek, the road the enemy took, but flnding they had got too 
far ahead returned here the 17th inst. The enemy got but one 
scalp and one prisoner (The Colonel did not know of their hav- 
ing committed the Sugarloaf Massacre when he wrote). We 
all concluded the enimy had gone off, but on the 18th there 
was a small party made their appearance on the West Branch 
about fourteen miles above this place, they killed one man 
and wounded another, and killed their horses they had in the 
plow, which plainly shows they have' scattered into small par- 
ties to Harras the inhabitants, which I am afraid will prevent 
the people from getting crops put in the ground this fall. 
When the German Regiment marched off from here I give or- 
ders for the Frontiers Companys to embody and keep one- 
fourth of the men Constantly Reconnoitering. After garris- 
oning Fort Jenkins, Fort Rice, and Fort Schwartz with 
twenty men in each of them, this was the only method I could 
think of encouraging the people as we were left to our own 
exertions. Only about thirty of Capt. McCoys company of 
Volunteers from Cumberland County, until the 10th Inst, that 
two companies of militia came here from the same county in 
the whole about eighty men. When I received the intelligence of 
a large party of savages and tories coming against Fort Rice, I 
give orders to evacuate Fort Jenkins as I did not look upon it 
to be tenable, which is since burned by the Enimy, and would 
have shared the same had the men staid there on act. of the 
Buildings that were adjoining it, &c." 

As to the numbers attacking Fort Rice, Genl. Potter (Vol. viii, 
p. 563), says: "Since I wrote the above I am informed by Capt. 
Robeson that a large body of the enemy crossed the Moncey 
Hills near one Evses and went up the Moncey Creek so that it 
is leekly (likely) that the number that was down amounted to 
300 men — they carried off a large number of Cattle and 
Horses." 

John Montgomery returned with his family on the return of 
peace. Finding the buildings of his farm destroyed and a good 
strong stone house supplying its place; he at once occupied 
the fort, which, with additions, made him a comfortable home 
for years. Capt. Rice leaving the country, Montgomery re- 
mained and it soon became known as Montgomery's fort. The 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 31 

old actors in tlie bloody di-ama euacted iu this region having 
passed away, Foit Kice was forgotten except as found in the 
old records, which placed it thirteen miles from SSunbury and 
on the head waters of the (Jhillisquaque — both erroneous. Fort 
Rice was lost as to site to the present generation. After con- 
siderable research I became satisfied Fort Rice and Montgom- 
ery must mean the same place. 

Hon. John Blair Linn, of Bellefonte, at this time sent me a 
newspaper cutting, recording an examination of the subject 
by J. F. Wolflnger, of Milton, in about 1885 (since dead). I 
have found his statement correct in the main and here present 
it: "Our ancestors and first settlers on the West and ]^Torth 
branches of the Susquehanna River had two great runav/ay 
times from the Indians. The first took place in 1778 and the 
second one in 1779. * * * ♦ j^j^j^ p Mont- 
gomery must certainly have known how and why this stone 
building was built over his spring, but as he died in Novem- 
bei', 1792, and left no writings with any person to show that 
the German Battalion had built it and had a fort and barracks 
standing close by his spring (falling into the error that there 
was a Fort Rice and a Fort Montgomery close together, he 
mistook the defences erected to protect the soldiers and their 
arms and commissary while building Fort Rice for the Fort 
Montgomery which Rice is). The knowledge of these facts 
was entirely unknow n to the coming generations of people in 
this beautiful region of country called Paradise, and, hence, 
a great many different stories very naturally arose as to when 
the old stone building in question was built and by whom it 
was built and why it had small port holes in its walls and the 
like. July 13, 1885. On This day T visited this old F(., t Mont- 
gomery or Rice ground, accompanied by my old friend, the 
Hon. David B. Montgomery, a grandson of the above John F. 
Montgomery, and who, I mean David B. M. has for many years 
resided about a hundred and fifty yards south of tlie spot. 
Spring House Buildings — A Grand relic. This building is 2Cx 
23 feet outside measurement and is two stories (and an Attic 
of 4 feet) high, being 22 feet high from the ground up to its 
square on the west side and on a part of its northern end, it is 
now used as, and forms in its lower story a splendid spring 



32 THE FRONTIER FOliTS BETWEEN 

house for keeping milk, cream, batter, meats aud the like iu a 
very nice and cool condition and it afforded me a good deal of 
pleasure to have a drink from its clear, cool and refreshing 
waters. 

"The walls of the fort are two feet chick and are composed 
of rather small dull colored limestone, as no quarries were 
open at that early day to get stones of a large size and of a 
clear strong blue color. But its walls are still solid and in a 
vei'v good condition, considering their age and the hasty man- 
ner in which Capt. Rice's German soldiers made them. The 
door to the spring was and still is in the south end of the 
building and it had when built in 1770 a wooden stairway that 
extended from the ground on its eastern side up to the second 
story, where there was another door for the purpose of storing 
away there for safe keeping such things as Capt. Rice and his 
men needed for their use and comfort. But this stairway is 
gone long ago and the doorway on the second story was aho 
changed long ago into a window, but on the east side it had 
and still has two windows with twelve panes of glass in each 
window and all the windows were of the old-fashioned sort, 
74x8^ inches in size, but one or two of these smaller sized 
windows have been walled shut with bricks. The northern 
end of the second story (third story or attic) still has two small 
port holes made there, no doubt, to enable soldiers standing 
there to stick their guns through the holes and fire at any In- 
dians that might come there with an evil design, but it is prob- 
able that every other side of the building had smaller port 
holes for this same purpose, but they are all gone now except- 
ing the two just noticed. Mr. Henry Raup, who lives in a fine 
two-story brick house on the east side of the spring house, 
called my attention to the fact that a smooth-faced stone iu 
the central part of the southern end wall and about eighty feet 
above the ground, contained on its face the letters W. R. that 
were so thinly cut into the stone as to make them after so long 
a time now have but a faint appearance. As W. and R. are the 
'.nitials of Capt. William Rice, I now found the evidence strong 
enough to satisfy me that Fort Rice, Montgomery, you can 
call it now by either of those names just as you please, actu- 
ally stood here and nowhere else, on the west side of the road 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 33 

that luus in front of Kaup's house up north to and beyond Tur- 
botville. iSome time after -lohn F. Montgomery had returned 
from his runaway from the Indians, he built a stone addition 
to the northern end of the above described spring house (foi't) 
building, an addition large enough to make a tine eating 
room for his family and work hands, and then to make things 
handy for the women he cut a hole through the wall of the fort 
and put a door there to go into the spring house for milk, 
butter, &c. This additional room w'as torn away long ago and 
the above doorway was walled up again but a portion of the 
plastering of this room still sticks to the northern wall of the 
old fort. Capt. Rice's old building aforesaid thus forms a 
grand and very interesting relic of our olden time building 
that every man in the county should be proud of and feel a 
great pleasure in visiting." I visited the place in 1894 with 
James I. Higbee, of Watsontown, and Mr. Yarrington, of the 
same place and secured a picture of probably the best pre- 
served fort of its date in the State. I found it two stories and 
an attic of four feet or more at the square of the building, 
could recognize the old port holes in the walls of the second 
story. The old-fashioned chimney was in the northern end, 
the spring covered about half the space inside the walls of the 
lower story. We hung "Old Glory" out of one of the old port 
holes, T suppose the first time since the close of the Revolution. 
Capt. Rice's name was Frederick William Rice. 



FORT FREELAND. 

The sad history of this death trap is well and widely 
known, on \\'arrior run, about four miles east of Watson- 
town and one mile east of well-known Warrior Run church; 
it was stockaded in the fall of 1778 by Jacob Freeland and 
his neighbors, enclosing n large two-story log house of 
Jacob Freeland, as many of the descendants of the early set- 
tlers still live in this region and the bloody ending of the place 
has kept it well in remembrance. Jacob Freeland here built a 
mill in 177^ and 1774, having brought the iron from New .Ter- 
.5 



34 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

sey. Mr. Enoch Everitt, of Watsontown, now owns the hue 
farms on which it was located. A depression on the yard to 
the large brick farm house marks the cellar to the site of the 
old Freelaud house. A fine spring of water near the house i» 
still used by the farm house of to-day. In Vol. xii, Penna. Ar- 
chives, p. 364, is fwund the rocollectious of Mary V. Derickson, 
born in the Fort Freeland, written in 185."), seventy-five years 
after the occurrence, but is remarkably clear. John Blair 
Linn, in his Annals of Buffalo Valley, and John F. Meginness^ 
in his "Otzinachson," give us full particulars, drawn largely 
from the Archives. 

Mary V, Derickson writes: "Sir: In compliance with your 
request, I will give (so far as my memory will serve) all the ac- 
count of the early settlers and occupants of Fort Freeland. 
The fort was situated on the Warrior run creek, about 4^ 
miles above where it empties into the Susquehanna river. In 
the year 1772, Jacob Freeland, Samuel Gould, Peter Vincent, 
John Vincent and his son. Cornelius Vincent, and Timothy 
Williams, with their respective families cut their way through 
and settled within some two miles of where the fort was after- 
wards bnilt. They were from Essex county. New Jersey. 
Jacob Freeland brought the irons for a grist mill, and in the 
years 1773 and 1774 built one on Warrior Run. There were 
several more families moved up from the same place, and they 
lived on friendly terms with the Indians until '77, when they 
began to be troublesome and to remove their own families, in 
the summer of '78, they had to leave the country, and when 
they returned in the fall they picketed (stockaded) around a 
large two-story log house (which had been built by Jacob 
Freeland for his family), enclosing half an acre of ground; the- 
timbers were set close and were about twelve feet high; 
the gate was fastened by bars inside. Into this fort, or 
house, the families of Jacob Freeland. Sen., and Jacob Free- 
land, Jr., John Little, Michael Freeland, John Vincent, Peter 
Vincent, George Pack, Cornelius Vincent, Moses Kirk, James 
Durham, Samuel Gould, Isaac Vincent and David Vincent, all 
gathered and lived there that winter. In November George 
Pack, son of George Pack, was born, and on the 20th May, 
George, son of Isaac Vincent, was born, on the 10th of Febni- 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 35 ' 

aiy, 1779, I was born. My father was Cornelius Vincent. In 
the spring of '79, the men planted corn but were occasionally 
surprised with the Indians, but nothing serious occurred until 
the 21st day of July, as some of them were at work in the corn 
field back of the fort, they were attacked by a party of In- 
dians, about nine o'clock, A, M. and Isaac Vincent, Elias Froe- 
land and Jacob Freeland, Jr., were killed and Benjamin Vin- 
cent and Michael Freeland were taken prisoners. Daniel Vin- 
cent was chased by them but he outran them and escaped by 
leaping a liigh log fence. When the Indians surprised them, 
Ben. Vincent (then ten years of age) hid in a furrow, but he 
thought he would be more secure by climbing a tree, as there 
was a woods near, but they saw him and took him a prisoner. 
He w^as ignorant of the fate of the others until about two 
o'clock P. M., when an Indian thrust a bloody scalp in his face 
and he knew it was his (and my) brother's Isaac's scalp. Noth- 
ing again occurred until the morning of the 29th about day- 
brealv, as Jacob Freeland, Sen,, was agoing out the gate he 
was shot and fell inside of the gate. The fort was surrounded 
by about three hundi'ed British and Indians, commanded by 
Capt McDonald. There were but 21 men in the fort and but 
little ammunition. Mary Kirk and Phoebe Vincent, com- 
menced immediately and run all their spoons and plates into 
bullets; about nine o'clock there was a flag of truce raised, 
and John Little and John Vincent went out to capitulate, but 
could not agree. They had half an hour given to consult with 
those inside; at length they agreed that all who were able to 
bear arms should go as j^risoners, and the old men and women 
and children set free, and the fort given up to plunder. They all 
left the fort by 12 o'clock P. M. Not one of them having eaten 
a bite that day and not a child was heard cry or ask for bread 
that day. They reached Northumberland, eighteen miles dis- 
tant, that night and there drew their rations, the first the\ 
had that day. When ]\rrs. Kirk heard the terms on which 
they were set free she put female clothes on her son William, 
a lad of 16, and he escaped with the women. Mrs. Elizabeth 
Vincent was a cripple; she could not walk. Her husband 
John Vincent, went to Capt. McDonald and told him of her sit- 
uation, and said if ho had a horse that the Indians had taken 



36 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

from his son Peter the week before that she could ride about 
daylight next morning. The horse came to them; he had carried 
his wife to the lower end of the meadow, where they lay and 
saw the fort burned, and it rained so hard that night that she 
laid mid side in the water; when the horse came he stripped 
the bark off a hickory tree and plaited a halter, set his wife 
on and led it to Northumberland, w'here there were wagons 
pressed to take them on down country. 

After the surrender of the fort Capts. Boone and Daugherty 
arrived with thirty men; supposing the fort still holding out 
they made a dash across Warrior run, when they were sur- 
rounded. Capt. Hawkins Boone and Capt. Samuel Daugherty, 
with nearly half the force were killed; the remainder broke 
through their enemies and escaped. Thirteen scalps of this 
party were brought into the fort in a handkerchief. Soon 
after this the fort was set fire to and burned down. The killed 
of the garrison and Boone's party, from best information, to 
be arrived at amounted to about twenty men, but two such 
men as. Boone and Daugherty in such times were of more 
value to such a community than many common men. 

Thus ended Fort Preeland. Robert Covenhoven, the famous 
scout and Indian killer of the West Branch, had passed down 
ahead of this party of Toriesand savages, giving notice of their 
approach, but it is said Fort Freeland did not get notice. Am- 
munition was hard to get, almost impossible sometimes to pro- 
cure, which may account for Fort Freeland being so short that 
the women had to run up their spoon and "pewter" plates, but 
one would suppose, if there was any head to the garrison after 
the attack of a few days before, when their loss was three 
killed and two captured, he would have caused them to be 
better prepared for another attack. 

Each succeeding generation on the NV'arrior run since the 
fall of Fort Freeland has pursued up the site of the place that 
no doubts exist in regard to it. 

The effect of the fall of Fort Freeland was disastrous to this 
region, accompanied as it was with the death of Boone, Daugh- 
erty and their brave comrades, and the desertion of Boone's 
Mills as a post of defence. It entirely uncovered Fort Au- 
gusta to the inrnnds of the enemv. Boslev's Mills nlone, with 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 37 

its small garrison standing- on the defensive on one flank liable 
to be overthrown when any considerable force of the enemy 
appeared before it. Colonel Hunter, holding his base with a 
force so feeble as to warrant a less courageous commander in 
calling in every man and gun for the protection of Au- 
gusta, as comparatively few persons remained to protect 
in his front, but holding what he had left. In 
November the German Battalion was sent him, count- 
ing about one hundred and twenty men, with which he 
secured his base, built Fort Rice and garrisoned it, and 
built Fort Swartz and also garrisoned it, as well as Fort 
Jenkins with thirty men, — with ten to fifteen militia at Bos- 
ley's Mills, and a few of the inhabitants to hold Wheeler, 
eighty to ninety men in all, besides his garrison of Augusta. 
At this date his left flank had been contracted from now Lock 
Haven to Milton, with his right weak but intact. Affairsdidnot 
improve much in this department to the close of the war in 
1780. The right flanking fort was destroyed by the troops 
being withdrawn in an emergency, and some time elapsed be- 
fore the flank was again protected by Fort McClure, at now 
Bloomsburg. 



BOONE'S MILLS. 

Boone's Fort was erected on Muddy run, a short distance 
from the West Branch of the Susquehanna, on the east 
bank. It was a grist mill stockaded and owned by Capt. 
Hawkins Boone (a cousin to the famous Daniel Boone), 
and, according to Linn's Annals of Buffalo Valley, cauu^ orig- 
inally from Exeter, Berks county. Soon after the consolida- 
tion of the 12th regiment, Pennsylvania Line, into the ."M and 
()th, Capt. Boone, Capt. Brady and Capt. Daugherty w^ero mus- 
tered out of service and sent, at the urgent request of the 
people of the West Branch to lead their defence. Boone stock- 
aded his mill and was assisted by his neighbors and troops in 
defending it. A large, hardy, brave, generous man, ho ap- 
pears to have been highly respected by those knowing him 



38 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

His fall at Fort Freeland, iu 1771), was a serious loss to the 
comiii unity, who looked to good results from his ability and 
experience: a confidence that was abruptly terminated by liis 
bloody, but soldierly death, attempting to rescue his leliow 
man. 

I'robably his loss was more of a public calamity tlian any 
man in the valley except his comrade in arms, Capt. Joliu 
Brady. 

In rebuilding the Kemmerer (Boone) mill, the men employed 
dug down to the old foundations of the Boone mills, showing 
the present mills occupying the same site. It is about midway 
between Milton and Watsontown. The Pennsylvania Ar- 
chives, Linn's Annals and Meginness' Otzinachson all show 
his ability and courage and the loss to the community by his 
death, as w-ell as his assistant, Capt. Daugherty. After 
Boone's deatli his fortifications are not heard of. 



FORT SWARTZ. 

Fort y wartz was built on the east bank of the West Branch, 
at the old Ferry, about a mile above Milton, a log structure, 
named in honor of Lieut. Christian Godfried Swartz, of Col. 
Weltner's German Battalion, who stockaded and defended it. 
It was built after the destruction of the forts above it on the 
river. It covered the river and its small garrison did some 
scouting duty. It was one of the three forts left standing 
from the North Branch to the West in the spring of 1780, viz: 
Wheeler, Rice and Swartz. It does not appear to have ever 
been attacked but w-as a sturdy little sentinel to challenge and 
give notice of anything passing down the river towards North- 
umberland and Sunbury. After the German Battalion left, it 
was garrisoned by the militia, when defended by any other 
than citizens. (In the History of the Forts, Penna. Archives, 
vol. xii, Appendix, p. 461, is "All we find about tMs fort is in a 
letter from Genl. Potter, dated Sunbury, September 18, 1780, 
in which he says I discharged the Volunteers that came from 
Cumberland and as soon as we could get provisions, which 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 39 

was the next morning, I marched the remainder, consisting of 
170 men, upon the West branch to Fort Svvarts. I then went 
to Col. Kelly, who lay at the mouth of White Deer creek with 
80 men." On the 21st of September he again writes: "I gave 
orders to the frontier companys to embody and keep one- 
fourtli of the men, constantly reconnoitering, after garrisoning 
Fort Jenkins, Fort Rice and Fort Swarts, with 20 men in each 
of them.") Day says Fort Swartz was one mile above Milton. 
Meginness says at the ferry, about one mile above Milton, a 
log structure garrisoned by and named for Major Christian 
Godfried Swartz, of Col. Weltner's regiment. 



FORT BRADY. 

Fort Brady was the dwelling house of Capt. John Brady, 
at Muncy, stockaded by digging a trench about four feet deep 
and setting logs side by side, filling in with earth and ramming 
down solid to hold the palisade in place. They were usually 
twelve feet high from the ground, with smaller timbers run- 
ning transversely at the top, to which they were pinned, mak- 
ing a solid wall. Capt. Brady's house was a large one for the 
time; he had been a captain in the Scotch-Irish and German 
forces west of the Alleghenies under Col. Henry Bouquet in 
his expedition, which Dr. Egle tells us composed the Bouquet 
expeditions, and had received a grant of land with the other 
officers in payment for his services. He was a captain in the 
12th Pennsylvania regiment in the Revolution and was wound- 
ed at the battle of the Brandywine. His son, John, a lad of 
fifteen, stood in the ranks with a rifle and was also wounded. 
Sam, his eldest son, was in another division and assisted to 
make the record of Parr's and Morgan's riflemen world fa- 
mous. The West Branch, in its great zeal for the cause of the 
colonist, bad almost denuded itself of fighting men for the 
Continental army. Consequently, on the breaking out of In- 
dian hostilities a cry for help went up from these sparsely 
settled frontiers. Genl. Washington recognized the necessity 
without the ability to relieve them. He, however, did all in 



40 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

bis power bv mustering out such officers as would be likely to 
organize such defence and restore confidence to these justly 
alarmed communities, distributing the men among other regi- 
ments. Capt. John Brady was one of these officers; he was 
mustered out soon after the battle of Brandywine, came home 
and in the fall of 1777 stockaded Fort Brady. He was active, 
energetic, honest, devoid of fear and kind. A man of promi- 
nence and a natural leader of men. Fort Brady at once be- 
came a place of refuge to the families within reach in times of 
peril and continued so until after the death of the valiant cap- 
tain and the driving off of the inhabitants. Capt. Brady was 
killed by the Indians at Wolf run, above Muncy, April 11, 
1779. Meginness, in his History of the West Branch, says: 
"One of the saddest incidents of these troublesome times was 
the assassination of Capt. John Brady by a concealed foe on 
the 11th of April, 1779. He was living with his family at his 
fort, as it was termed, at Muncy, and was taking an active 
part against the Indians. On this fatal day he made a trip up 
the river to Wallis' for the purpose of procuring supplies. He 
took a wagon and guard with him, and, after securing a quan- 
tity of provisions started to return in the afternoon. He was 
riding a fine mare and was some distance in the rear of the 
wagon. Peter Smith, the same unfortunate man who lost his 
family in the bloody massacre of the 10th of June, and on 
whose farm young James Brady was mortally wounded and 
scalped by the Indians on the 8th of August, was walking by 
his side. When within a short distance of his home, Brady 
suggested to Smith the propriety of his taking a different route 
from the one the wagon had gone, as it was shorter. They trav- 
eled together until they came to a small stream of water (Wolf 
run), where the other road came in. Brady observed: This 
would be a good place for Indians to hide; Smith replied in 
the affirmative, when three rifles cracked and Brady fell from 
his horse dead. As his frightened mare was about to run past 
Smith he caught her by the bridle and, springing on her back, 
was carried to Brady's Fort in a tew minutes. The report of 
the rifles w^as plainly heard at the tort and caused great alarm. 
Several persons rushed out, Mrs. Brady among them, and, see- 
ing Smith ccTning at full spe(^d, anxiously enquired where 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. ti 

Oapt. Biady ^Yas. It is related that Smith, in a high state of 
excitenienc, replied: "lu Heaven or hell, or on his way to 
Tioga," meaning he was either killed or a prisoner bj the In- 
dians. The Indians in their haste did not scalp him, nor plun- 
der him of his gold watch, some money and his commission, 
which he carried in a green bag suspended from his neck. 
His body was brought to the fort and soon after interred in 
the Muncy burying ground, some four miles from the fort (now 
Hall's station, P. & E. R. R.) over Muncy creek." His grave is 
suitably marked at Hall's, while a cenotaph in the present 
Muncy cemetery of thirty feet higii, raised by J. M. M. Gernerd 
by dollar subscription, attests the lively interest still felt by 
the community in one who devoted himself to the protection of 
the valley when brave active men and good counselors were 
needed. Of his sons, Capt. Samuel Brady, a sharpshooter of 
Parr's and Morgan's rifles, fought on almost every battlefield 
of the Revolution, from Boston and Saratoga to Germantown, 
can speak of his deeds as a scout and Indian fighter 
Western and Northern Pennsylvania, which West Virginia 
and Ohio attest. To the Indian hel became a terror, and 
he fully avenged the blood of his sire shed at Wolf run, on the 
West Branch of the Susquehanna, that beautiful day in April, 
1779, at the bloody fight of Brady's Bend, on the Allegheny, 
where, with his own hand, he slew his father's murderer and 
avenged his brother James, the "Young Captain of the Susque- 
hanna," in a liundred other tights. Of his second son, James, 
killed by the Indians at the Loyal Sock, whose career bid fair 
to be as brilliant as iiis elder brother's but unfortunately cut 
off at his commencement. John, who, when but a boy of fif- 
teen, going with his father and oldest brother to the battle- 
field of the Brandywine to bring back the horses, finding a 
battle on hand, took a rifle and stepped into the ranks and did 
manful duty, and was wounded. He is said to have served 
with Jackson at New Orleans in the War of 1812. William 
Perry Brady served on the northern borders in the same war, 
and at Perry's victory at Lake Erie, when volunteers were 
called, was the first to step out. 

Hon. John Blair Linn, at tluj dedication of the Brady monu- 
ment in 187J), one hundred years after the death of John 
3* 



42 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

Brady, said: "To the valley liis loss was well nij^U irrepar- 
able; death came to its defender, and 'Hell followed' hard 
after. In May, Buffalo Valley was overrun and the people 
left, on the 8th of July Smith's mills, at the mouth of the 
White Deer Creek were burned, and on the 17th Munc}^ valley 
was swept with the besom of destruction. Starrett's mills and 
all the principal houses in Muucy townshijj burned, with 
Fort Muncy, Brady and Freeland, and Sunbury became the 
frontier." 

And, in speaking of the fall of Capt. Evan Kice Brady at 
South Mountain, in the war -of '62, said: "Four generations of 
the Bradys fought for this country, yet he was the first to fall 
in action." The site of Fort Brady adjoins the town of Muncy, 
on the south side of and near the built up portions of the town 
on lot owned by Mrs. Hayes. Until late years, a flag staff has 
stood, marking the site, Mr. J. M. M. Gernerd, the well- 
known antiquarian of INIuncy, keeps a good lookout for the 
site. No question as to its genuineness. 



FORT MUNCY. 

Fort Muncy is located about half a mile above Hall's sta- 
tion, immediately on the P. & E. R. R., and about four miles 
from Muncy, and was built by Col. Thomas Hartley in 1778, at 
the urgent solicitation of Samuel Wallis, Esq., who had 
erected a stone mansion here in 1769. It stood a few hun- 
dred yards in front of the famous Hall's house of 1769. It 
was designed to be the most important stronghold next to Au- 
gusta, and was situated midway between that place and the 
farthest settlement up the river; it was a rising piece of 
ground at the foot of which was a fine spring of water, a large 
elm tree now hangs over the spring. A covered way led from 
the fort to this natural fountain as a protection to those who 
went there for water. When the extension of the Philadel- 
phia and Reading railroad was built to Willianisport, the ele 
vation on which the fort stood was cut through. The exeava 
tion is quite deep and passengers cannot fail to notice it on ae- 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 43 

count of the view of tlie Hall residence on the left being- sud- 
denly shut oil as the train dashes into the cut (in going upj. 
Col. Hartley informs us that the bastions of the tort were 
built of fascines and clay and the curtains were protected by 
the stockades in which quarters for the garrison were placed. 
— (Maginness' Otzinachson, pages 484-5.) 

One would understand from the many accounts that Fort 
Muncy had been desti-oyed twice. In the Penua. Archives, 
(Vol. xii, appendix, p. 418.) "The convoy arrived safely at Sun- 
bury, leaving the entire line of farms along the West branch 
to the ravages of the Indians. They destroyed Fort Muncy, 
but did not penetrate Sunbury." Shortly after the big run- 
away Col. Brodhead was ordered up wath his force of 100 or 
150 men to rebuild Fort Muncy and guard the settlers while 
gathering their crops. After performing this service he left 
for Fort Pitt and Colonel Hartley, with a battalion succeeded 
him in 1778. Col. Ludwig Weltner, December 13th, 1779. I 
found Fort Muncy and Fort Jenkins, on the East branch, and 
with the magazine at Sunbury, to have been the only posts 
that w^ere standing when he was ordered here from Wyoming. 
"Col. Hunter, whom I consulted, was of the same opinion, 
the only difficulty was to fix on some place equally well adapt- 
ed to cover the Frontier, as Fort Muncy was; Fort Muncy having 
been evacuated and destroyed." So FortMuncy appears to have 
been destroyed the second time, as Lieut. Moses Van Campen, 
of Capt. Robinson's Rangers says, in the latter part of March, 
just at the opening of the campaign of 1782, the companies 
that had been stationed during the winter at Reading were or- 
dered back by Congress to their respective stations; Lieut. 
Van Campen marched at the head of Capt. Robinson's com- 
pany to Northumberland, where he was joined by ^Ir. Thomas 
Chambers, who had been recently commissioned ensign of the 
same company. Here he halted for a few days to allow his men 
rest, after which he was directed to march to a place called 
^funcy, and there rebuild a fort which had been destroyed by 
the Indians in the year '70. Having reached his station, he 
threw up a small blockhouse in which he placed his stores and 
immodiately commenced rebuilding the fort, being joined 
shortlyafterbvCapt.Robinson in company with several gentle- 



44 THE FRONTIER FORTb BETWEEN 

mcu, amoug whom wasaMi'.Culbertsou, who wasauxious to tiud 
an escort up the West Branch of the Susquehanna into the 
neighborhood of Bald Eagle creek. Here his brother had been 
killed by the Indians, and being informed that some of his 
party had been buried and had thus escaped the violence of 
the enemy, he was desirous of making search to obtain it. Ar- 
rangements were made for Van Campeu to go with him at the 
head of a small party of men as a guard, Lieut. Van Canipen 
was captured while on this expedition and taken to Canada, 
where he remained some time, so we get no further informa- 
tion from him in regard to this rebuilding of Fort Muncy for 
the third time. Fort Muncy, if properly garrisoned, was an 
important position for the defense of the valley below it; here 
was a good place from which to support scouting parties, west 
and north, and from which passes of the Muncy hills to the 
eastward could be covered by strong scouting parties, but the 
country lacked men, and means to support them at this criti- 
cal time. Near the site of Fort Muncy is the Indian Mound 
described by Mr. Gernerd in his "Now and Then,'' and near the 
Hall's station is the grave of Capt. John Brady, with his faith- 
ful old soldier comrade, John Lebo, buried by his side. The 
spring still defines the location of the fort. 



FORT MENNINGER. 

Fort Menninger was erected at White Deer Mills, or at the 
time of building the Widow Smith's mills; it was built about 
eighty rods from the river, on the north bank of W^hite Deer 
creek, covering the Widow Smith's mills, to which a gun barrel 
boring establishment was added in 1776, and is said to 
have turned out a good many of that much needed article. 
The fort was situated west of the mills forming the apex of an 
irregular triangle of wliich the mills formed one base and the 
small stone house, said to have been erected by the Widow 
Smith before the Revolution, which is not doubted, the other; 
-its walls are two feet thick, and the building is in good condi- 
tion, having a more modern addition to it at present. The 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 45 

lull and mills weiu abaiiduiR'd at the liiiu' ui' the l>ij^ Uuuaway 
in 177'J, aud the toiL buiiieu uy ilie iuuiaus duly », liVu. in 
John B. Linn's Annals ol' iJuHalo Valley, pp. 'S6\) and 240, we 
lind: "In a petition to the Assembly of this year, 1785, by 
Catharine Smith, sets forth that she was left a widow with 
ten children with no estate to support this family except a lo- 
cation for three hundred acres of land, including the mouth of 
White Deer creek, whereon is a good mill seat, aud a grist mill 
and saw mill being rhuch wanted in this new country at that 
time, she was often solicited to erect said mills, which were of 
great advantage to the country, and the following summer 
built a boring mill, where a great number of gun bai-rels were 
bored for the continent, and a hemp mill. The Indian war 
soon after coming on, one of her sons, her greatest help, went 
into the army and, it is believed, was killed, as he never re- 
turned. The said mills soon became a frontier and, in July,. 
1779, the Indians burned the whole works. She returned to 
the ruins in 1783, and was again solicited to rebuild the grist 
and saw mills, which she has, with much difficulty, accom- 
plished, and now ejectments are brought against her by 
Messrs. Claypool and Morris, and she, being now reduced to 
such low circumstances as renders her unable to support ac- 
tions at law, and therefore, prays relief, &c. The Legislature, 
of course, could grant no relief under the circumstances and 
the petition was dismissed." She is said to have gone to Phila- 
delphia and back thirteen times on this business. Her house 
was where Doctor Danonsky now (1874) lives, on the Henry 
High place, part of the old stone house being used as a kit- 
chen. Kolly McCorley, who recollects the mill last built by. 
her, said it was a small round log mill." A part of the founda- 
tion of this mill serves the same purpose in thefinemodernmill 
of to-day owned by Captain David Bly, of Williamsport, who 
was born here and pointed out wliere, when a boy, he saw the 
remains of Fort Menninger removed from. Fort Menninger 
was built in the spring of 1778. Troops were stationed here a 
part of the time after its destruction. In November, 1770. 
fourteen men were stationed here, and most probably occupied 
the Widow Smith's stone house. 

Oen. James Potter (Tn Ponnn. Archives. '^'ol.viii. ])..")(;•_*'). ni^dni> 



46 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

date of Sept. 18, 1780, says: "I marched the remainder, con- 
sisting of 170 men up the West Branch to Fort Swarts. I 
then went to Col. Kelly, who lay at the mouth of White Deer 
creek, with 80 men." 



FOET ANTES. 

Fort Antes was erected by Lieut. Col. Henry Antes in 1778, 
about opposite Jersey Shore on the east side of Nippenose 
creek, and on the higher plateau overlooking it, and also the 
river. It was defended by Col. Antes, its builder, until or- 
dered to vacate it by Col. Samuel Hunter, at the time the mili- 
tary authorities considered it unsafe to attempt to defend 
these forts. 

Col. Hunter sent word to Col. Hepburn, then commanding at 
Fort Muncy to order all above him on the river to abandon the 
country and retire below. Meginness' Otizinachson says, "Col. 
Hepburn had some difficulty in getting a messenger to carry 
the order up to Col. Antes, so panic stricken were the people 
on account of the ravages of the Indians. At length, Robert 
Covenhoven and a young millwright in the employ of Andrew 
Culbertson, volunteered their services and started on the dan- 
gerous mission. They crossed the river and ascended Bald 
Eagle mountain and kept along the summit till they came to 
the gap opposite Antes' Fort. They then cautiously descended 
at the head of Nippenose Bottom and proceeded to the fort. It 
was in the evening and as they neared the fort the report of a 
rifle rang out upon their ears. A girl had gone outside to milk 
a cow, and an Indian lying in ambush fired upon lier. The 
ball, fortunately, passed through her clothes and she escaped 
unhurt. The orders were passed on up to Horn's Fort and 
preparations made for the flight." 

Fort Antes was a refuge for the Indian land or Fair Play 
men, as well as for those on the south side of the river. Col. 
Antes was a man of prominence in Northumberland county, in 
<AvU as well as military life. He was a justice of the peace 
and twice sheriff of Northumberland county. He was buried 
in a small grave yarrl near the fort h(^ defended ablv and 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 47 

abaudoued with great reluctance at the command of his su- 
perior officer. Kear Fort Antes we were shown the scalping 
knife, old hint lock pistol and pocket compass of the fa- 
mous scout, guide and Indian hghter of the West Branch, 
Robert Covenhoven. The knife has nine notches filed in the 
back, to represent the number of Indians it has scalped. 

Meginness says, "The most important defensive work, after 
leaving Fort Muncy and traveling w^estward by the river 
about twenty-five miles was what was known among the early 
settlers at Antes' Fort, because it was built by Col. John 
Henry Antes. It was located on a high bluff overlooking tlie 
river and Indian land to the west, at the head of Long Island, 
in what is now Nippenose township, Lycoming county. Al- 
though every trace of the fort has long since disappeared, 
and the ground on which it stood is plow^ed and cultivated 
annually, its name is perpetuated by the little village and 
station on the Philadelphia and Erie railroad, about a mile 
eastward, called Antes Fort." 

The builder of this stockade, which played an important 
part during the Indian troubles preceding the Big Runaway, 
was one of the earliest pioneers to effect a permanent settle- 
ment here. It is believed that he was induced to locate lands 
and settle here by Conrad Weiser, and that he came as early 
as 1772. He picked out a mill site near the month of the creek 
which still bears his name, erected a primitive dw-elling place 
and settled. At that time the surroundings must have been 
exceedingly wild. The creek, which is the outlet for the 
waters of Nippenose Valley, flow^s through a canon in the Bald 
Eagle mountain w^hich, at this day, possesses much of its na- 
tive wilderness. Behind him rose the mountain, covered from 
base to summit with its dark evergreen foliage of pine and 
hemlock, whilst a swamp, with almost impenetrable thickets 
of briars, tangled vinos and underbrush, came up to within a 
few yards of where he built his cabin. 

Perhaps as early as 177;> he commenced the erection of a 
grist mill. It was the most advanced improvement of its kind 
up the river, and proved a great boon to the settlers for miles 
beyond. To show the straightened circumstances of the in- 
habitants it may be mentioned that while the work of building 



48 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

the mill was going on coarse Hour was made by grinding 
wheat and corn in a large iron coffee mill, and the bran was re- 
moved by a hair sieve. Tradition says that one person was 
kept turning the mill all the time to keep a supply of flour for 
the sustenance of the workmen. 

It cannot be positively stated when the stockade was built, 
but it must have been in the summer of 1777, when the In- 
dians became demonstrative and troublesome on the frontier. 
The site selected for the fort was on the hill overlooking the 
mill, which was within rifle shot. It was constructed accord- 
ing to the usual plan, by sinking vertically heavy timbers in a 
trench dug four or five feet deep, when the earth was tilled in 
around them. 

These stockades w'ere from ten to twelve feet high, and 
notched at the top for musketry. No record has been left to 
show the extent of the enclosure, but it must have covered 
fully a quarter of an acre, as a militia company w'as stationed 
there for several months. Whether the fort was ever supplied 
with small cannon or not is unknown, but a tradition has ex- 
isted that it was, because a cannon ball was once found near 
the river bank, under the hill. It .might have been carried 
there by some collector of Revolutionary relics. But as Fort 
Muncy had one or two, it is not improbable that one of these 
was dragged up to Antes' Fort to menace the savages when 
they appeared on the opposite side of the river. 

Being active, vigilant and well informed for his time, John 
Henry Antes was appointed a justice of the peace for this part 
of Northumberland county on the 29th of July, 1775, by the 
court then held at Fort Augusta. He filled the office until the 
breaking out of Indian hostilities. On the 24th of January, 
177 (>, he WMs ai)pointed captain of a company of fifty-eight 
militiamen in the Second battalion under Col. James Potter, 
for the defence of the frontier, and he commanded a company 
in Col. William Phinket's regiment when he made his ill- 
timed raid on the Connecticut settlers at Wyoming. 

After returning from the "raid" up the North Branch, he 
was commissioned a captain of foot in the Second battalion of 
Associators, April H). 1770. In a little more than a year he 
was commissioned lieutenant colonel (Mav, 1777) of the Fourth 



THE NORTH AND WEST BKANCHKS. 4S) 

battalion of the militia of JS'oi'thumbeilaud couuty, by tiie fc?u- 
preme Executive Council, sitting at i'liilatlelpliia. His com- 
mission was beautifully written on parchment and signed by 
Thomas \Vharton, Jr., president, and Timothy Matlack, secre- 
tary. It is still preserved by his descendants as a precious 
relic. On the aoth of July, 1777, he took the oath of allegiance" 
and straightway entered on a more active career in tlie de- 
fence of the frontier against the savages, who were daily grow- 
ing more bold and aggressive. It was about this time that he 
had a garrison at Antes' Fort and kept a vigilant outlook for 
the foe, who* could come within sight of the fortification 
on their own land. Scouting parties were frequently sent 
out for the purpose of keeping communication open with Fort 
-Muncy, and to watch the great Indian path running up Lycom- 
ing creek, down which scalping parties frequently came to 
ravage the settlements. 

The winter of 1777-78 was lendered distressing by the fre- 
quent inroads of the savages, and it was necessary to observe 
the greatest vigilance to guard against surprise. On the 23d 
of December a man was tomahawked and scalped near the 
mouth of Pine creek, almost within sight of the fort; and of 
the 1st of January another met the same fate further up the 
river. This month Colonel Antes visited Fort Augusta to con- 
sult with Colonel Hunter as to what had best be done. The 
result of the conference was that three classes of Col. Cookson 
Long's battalion were ordered to report to Colonel Antes. 
The men composing these commands mostly lived on 
the West Branch and were good riflemen. The inhabit- 
ants, in view of the increasing danger, did not deem it pru- 
dent to allow any more militia to leave the country to join 
Washington's army, and so informed Colonel Hunter. 

The scarcity of arms and ammunition was another draw- 
back to a vigorous defence. Colonel Hunter was constantly 
clamoring for arms, but the authorities were so hard pressed 
that they could not meet his demands. The British were mak- 
ing a supreme effort both in the front and rear of Washington. 
Indians and Tories were directed to descend on the frontiers of 
Northumberland county, from Fort Niagara to destroy the set- 
tlements and sliow no mercy to men. w^omen and children. 
4 



50 thp: frontier forts between 

Colonel Antes had command of the Irontier forces, with head- 
quarters at his stockade, and ranging parties were kept con- 
stantly in the field. Colonel Hunter stated that Colonel Antes 
was the only field ofiicer he was allowed, and he found it al- 
most impossible to defend the extensive frontier with the 
small force at his command. 

A body of Indians numbering eleven were discovered skulk- 
ing in the woods above the Great Island, and as it was evident 
that they were bent on mischief, they were promptly pursued 
by a portion of Colonel Antes' command. As a light snow had 
fallen the^^ were easily tracked and soon overtaken. A slight 
skirmish ensued, when two Indians were killed. This caused 
the remaining nine to quickly take to the woods and escape. 
But, notwithstanding the vigilance of the scouting parties, 
small bands of Indians would suddenly appear in unlocked for 
places and do much damage. 

The inhabitants complained that if no militia were stationed 
above Fort Muncy they would be forced to abandon their 
homes. This made it more responsible for Colonel Antes, and 
he was kept on the alert night and day. His stockade fort was 
the centre of military operations for months, and its value as 
a defensive point cannot be overestimated in those perilous 
times. 

In June, 1777, an exciting and tragic affair occurred within 
sight of Fort Antes, which shows the constant danger to 
which the occupants were subjected. It was on a Sunday 
morning, when four men, Zephaniah Miller, Abel Cady, James 
Armstrong and Isaac Bouser, accompanied by two women, 
left the fort and crossed the river in canoes to the Indian land 
for the purpose of milking several cows which were pasturing 
there. The four men went along as a guard. One of the cows 
wore a bell but they found that she was further back from the 
shore than the others. Cady, Armstrong and Miller thought- 
lessly started to drive her in to be milked. It never occurred to 
them that Indians might be lurking in the bushes and that 
the cow might be kept back as a decoy. Soon after entering 
the bushes they were fired upon by the concealed foe, and 
Miller and Cady fell, severely wounded. With the agility of 
cats they were pounced upon by the Indians and scalped. 



THE NOllTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 51 

when tliej us quickly disappeared iu tlie thickets. Armstrong 
was wounded in the back of the head, but succeeded in getting 
away. Wlien the shots were lired, IJouser and the women, 
who were in the rear, ran to the river bank and concealed 
themselves. 

The sudden firing alarmed the garrison at the fort, but a 
number of militiamen, friends of the party attacked, seized 
their guns and hurried across the river. Colonel Antes stoutly 
remonstrated against their going, fearing that it might be a 
decoy to draw the force away, when the fort would be assailed 
from the rear, but the men were so anxious to get a shot at the 
skulking savages that they could not be restrained, although 
aware that it was a breach of military discipline. 

When the rescuing party reached the shore they soon found 
Cady and Miller where they fell, scalped, weltering in their 
blood, and presenting a horrible spectacle. Cady was still 
breathing, but unable to speak. He was picked up and carried 
to the river bank, where his wife, who was one of the milking 
party, met him. He reached out his hand to her as a sign of 
recognition and almost immediately expired. Armstrong was 
taken to the fort, where he lingered in great agony till Monday 
night following, when he died. 

The loss of these three men. through the wily methods of the 
savages, caused a feeling of sadness among those collected in 
the fort, and show^ed them very plainly that their safety de- 
pended on vigilance. The pursuing party moved swiftly and 
soon came in sight of the Indians who, on seeing that they 
were discovered, turned and fired, but did no execution. They 
then dashed into a sw^amp which then existed under what is 
now the hill on which the Jersey Shore cemetery is situ- 
ated. Deeming it unsafe to enter the tangled thickets of the 
swamp, the pursuing party returned. They fired several times 
at the retreating foe and thought they did some execution, as 
marks of blood were seen on their trail as if they had dragged 
away their killed or wounded. 

One of the strange characters who was a frequent visitor to 
Antes Fort in those gloomy days was "Job Chilloway," a 
friendly Indian of the Delaware tribe. He had been converted 
bv the Moravians and remained steadfast in the faith. Hav- 



52 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

inj,' associated much with the whites he became very friendly, 
aud by inauy good acts won their confidence and respect. He 
was much employed as a scout by the military authorities and 
his fidelity was frequently proven by dangerous missions to 
gain information of the movement of the savages. He had a 
wide acquaintance among the Indians, as well as a thorough 
knowledge of the country, its mountains, streams and paths, 
and, therefore, was enabled to acquireinformation that proved 
of great value to the whites. At times he was suspected by 
the Indians of giving information, but through his artlessness 
and keenness of perception, he always managed to disabuse 
their minds of suspicion and escaped when others would have 
failed, hi a word, he was a first class Indian detective, whose 
sense of gratitude never allowed him to prove recreant to his 
trust, and those who had befriended him, which was some- 
thing remarkable in the nature and character of an aborigine. 
Through life he proved himself a "good Indian." and when he 
died near Fort Erie, Canada, September 22, 1792, he received 
Christian burial at the hands of his Moravian friends. He 
had learned to speak English well and understood several In- 
dian dialects. He was the first to apprise the whites that the 
Indians were preparing to descend on the valley in force, and 
warned them to be prepared to resist the invaders. 

Some interesting anecdotes illustrative of the character of 
this remarkable Indian, have been preserved, one of which may 
be related in this connection. One day, when the times were 
perilous, he was visiting at Antes Fort. As he was moving 
about outside the stockade, and ever on the alert for danger, 
he discovered a sentinel leaning against a tree asleep. Slip- 
])ing up behind the tree he quickly threw his arms around it, 
and, grasping the sentinel, held him so that he could not see 
who had hold of him. The sentinel was badly frightened at 
his predicament and struggled to release himself, but in vain. 
At last he discovered that it was Job who had him pinioned, 
when he begged him not to tell Colonel Antes, who might pun 
ish him severely for such a grave offense. Job promised not to 
report him, but reminded him that if it bad been an enemy 
that seized him. he might have been killed. "Yes," replied the 
sentinel, "I miffht have been caught bv an Indian and killed 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 53 

before I knew who my assailant was." "It was an Indian lliat 
canglit you/' replied Job, with a grin, "but he was your 
friend.'' 

This aft'air so much amused Job that he would burst into a lit 
of laughter whenever he thought of it. His frequent outbursts 
of merriment finally attracted the attention of Colonel Antes, 
and he asked what was the cause of it, but he refused to tell 
for a long time. At last he informed the Colonel that some- 
thing serious had happened to one of his men, but he had 
pledged his word not to tell on him. But Job intimated to 
the Colonel that he might detect the guilty man by his coun- 
tenance when the company was on parade. The Colonel scru- 
tinized the countenance of his men sharply when they were 
paraded, which caused the guilty man to confess what oc- 
curred to him. The circumstance and the manner of its re- 
vealment through the suggestion of the Indian, so amused him 
that he did not punish the man, but admonished him not to be 
caught that way again. 

In the early summer of 1778 another affair of an entirely dif- 
ferent character occurred at the fort, which shows the prowl- 
ing nature of the savages and how close they would venture 
to get a shot at a white person and possibly secure a scalp. 

When Colonel Hunter sent word to the commanding officer 
at Fort Muncy that it would be necessary for the inhabitants 
living above the Muncy hills to abandon their homes and ren- 
dezvous at Fort Augusta, if they valued their lives, and des- 
patched messengers with the warning to Antes Fort and 
Horn's Fort, some trouble was experienced in finding messen- 
gers who w^ere willing to take the risk of traveling twenty-five 
miles up the valley, which was then infested by savages. Fi- 
nally, Kobert Covenhoven, the daring scout, and a young man 
employed at Culbertson's mill, voluntered to undertake the 
dangerous mission. The name of the young man, unfortunately 
for the benefit of history, has not been preserved, but the prob- 
abilities are that he did not go, because Covenhoven preferred, 
when on a dangerous mission, to go alone. AW are led to this 
conclusion by the statement that Covenhoven started at once 
and stayed that night with a man named Andrew Armstrong, 
who had settled at a big spring a short distance east of the 



54 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

present village of Liuden. This was about sixteen miles west 
of Fort Muney and, therefore, a good tjLage for the first part 
of the journey. It is of record that he warned Armstrong of 
tlie impending danger and advised him to leave. He refused, 
and, in a few days afterwards, was taken prisonei', carried 
into captivity and never heard of again. 

The next day Covenhoven did not take the risk of traveling 
ui) the valley to Antes Fort, but, crossing the river, ascended 
Bald Eagle mountain, and traveled along the level plateau on 
the summit. He knew that the Indians were not likely to be 
found there, as they preferred lying in ambush along the path 
in the valley to surprise incautious travelers. Then, again, he 
could look down into the valley and discover signs of Indians, 
if any were about. The only point of danger was in descending 
to cross one or tw'O canons which intervened before debouch- 
ing near the fort. He made the journey successfully, and, in 
the evening as he was cautiously creeping through the bushes 
and when within a few hundred yards of the fort, he was 
startled by the sharp report of a rifle. 

His first impression was that he had been discovered and 
fired upon by an Indian concealed in the bushes, but finding 
himself uninjured he made a dash for the fort, which he 
reached in safety and delivered the message of Colonel Hun- 
ter to Colonel Antes to evacuate the place within a week. 

Investigation showed that the shot had been fired by an In- 
dian at a young w^oman who had gone outside the fort to milk 
a cow. The Indian had stealthily crawled up until he got in 
range and fired. The young woman was badly frightened, as 
she had made a narrow escape. The bullet passed through the 
folds of her dress without touching her person. Milking cows 
in those days outside of a fort was a dangerous experiment, 
and several narrow escapes are recorded. 

As soon as the shot was fired a body of armed men rushed 
out of the fort and scoured the surrounding neighborhood for 
some distance, but the venturesome redskin could not be 
found. He had probably taken refuge in the swamp, about a 
quarter of a mile southwest of the fort — a favorite hiding 
place with the Indians. 

It does not appear that Covenhoven continued to Horn's fort 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 55 

— another messenger evidently having conveyed the news 
there — as we are informed that he immediately returned to 
Fort Mimcy. The brief record of the times does not tell us 
how he returned, but as an Indian lurked in nearly every 
thicket, we are left to infer that he made his way back by the 
mountain route, as it was the safest. In a few days after- 
wards we hear of him removing his wife to Fort Augusta for 
safety, and then returning to assist the panic stricken 
inhabitants in their flight down the river in what was known 
as the Big Runaway. 

In less than a month after the flight armed bodies of men 
were hurried up the valley from Fort Augusta and posted at 
Fort Munc}-, whence scouting parties were sent out to see 
what damage had been done. They found the cabins and 
barns of the settlers burned and their crops greatly damaged. 
In about a month many settlers were induced to return and 
gather what they could of their crops under the protection of 
armed men. 

An advance scouting party hurried up the river as far as 
Antes Fort. They found the mill and outbuildings burned and 
the embers yet smoking, showing that the savages had just 
been there before them. The air was tainted with the aroma 
of roasting wheat, and everything destructible attested the 
work of the vandals. Antes Fort, however, was still tenable; 
the savages were unable to burn the stout oaken timbers 
which formed the stockade, and they were not disposed to un- 
dertake the hard labor of cutting them down or pulling them 
out of the earth, where they had been so firmly Implanted. 
Everything else that could be destroyed was rendered useless. 

Colonel Antes and family fled with the rest of the fugitives 
in obedience to the orders of Colonel Hunter, but he was 
among the first to return to look after his property. It does 
not appear that any militia were stationed at the fort again 
for any length of time, although it is probable that it was 
made a rallying point until all danger was over. On the res- 
toration of peace it was allowed to fall into decay, and it soon 
became a ruin, which for many years was pointed out by the 
old settlers as a spot of great historic interest, on account of 



56 THE FllOxNJTIEll FORTS BETWEEN 

its association witli llie tbiilliug days of tlie Uevolutiouaiy 
period. 

ColouL'l Antes, soon after tlie return of peace rebuilt bis 
mill and for years it was the only one in that section of the 
valley to supply the settlers with hour, who came with their 
grists as far away as thirty or forty miles, and in some in- 
stances further. A mill still stands on the site to-day, al- 
though it is the third since the first. 

This remarkable man, who played such a conspicuous part 
in the early history of the valley in both a military and civil 
capacity, was born October 8, 1736, near Pottstown, Montgom- 
er}^ county. His ancestors came from Crefeld on the Rhine, 
and in this country they occupied high positions in the Dutch 
Keformed church. His parents had eleven children, all of 
whom w^ere ardent patriots and the males were distinguished 
for their military services in Revolutionary times. 

Colonel Antes was chosen sheriff of Northumberland county 
in 1782, and commissioned on the 18th of October. He was re- 
elected in 1783, and served a second term. His first wife — 
Anna Maria Paulin — died in March, 1707, leaving five children. 
By his second wife, Sophia Snj'der, he had eight children. 
Colonel Antes had an elder brother, Philip Frederick, who 
married Barbara Tyson in 1755. Their youngest daughter, 
Catharine, married Simon Snyder about 179G. He became 
(rovernor of Pennsylvania in 1808, and served until 1817 — 
tliree terms. 

The Colonel was an active and busy man. He acquired con- 
siderable land on Antes creek and made many improvements. 
He died May 18, 1820, aged 83 years, 9 months and 5 days, and 
was buried in the graveyard near his famous fortification. 
This burial ground was started by those who were killed by 
the Indians. Here Donaldson (see sketch of Horn's Fort), Mc- 
Michael and Fleming were buried, and here Cady, Miller and 
Armstrong were laid at rest. Since tliat time — one hundred 
and seventeen years ago — scores of old and young have found 
a place of sepnltni-e in its sacred soil, and burials are stiA 
made there. 

Xo stone marks the grave of the old hero and ])atriot, Col. 
John Henry Antes, although th^ spot is pointed out by some 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 57 

of his descendants where lie was hiid three-quarters of a cen- 
tury ago. Considering what he did in a militar}^ capacity 
alone, the trials he passed through, the hardships he endured 
and the foundation he assisted in laying for the higher civili- 
zation which followed him, the time has arrived for the erec- 
tion of a suitable monument to perpetuate his name and fame. 
Marble, granite, brass and bronze testimonials have been 
reared over the graves of those who did less for posterity; 
here lies one who is eminently deserving of an appropriate 
block of granite, indicative of his rugged character and 
sublime patriotism. Shall it be done or must his memory be 
allowed to perish? 



FORT HORN. 

Fort Horn was erected on a high Hat extending out to the 
river and commanding a good view of the river up and down, 
as well as the north side of the river; is about midway be- 
tween Pine and ^McElhattan Stations on the P. & E. R. R., west 
of Fort Antes. It was a place of refuge for those hardy set- 
tlers on the Indian lands on the north side of the river, as well 
as rhe residents on the Pennsylvania lands on which it was 
built. The river lands on the north side were outside the pur- 
chase of 1768, from the Lycoming creek up the river west- 
ward. These settlers were adventurous, hardy, brave. When 
I say they were mostly Scotch-Irish it will be understood they 
were also law abiding. As they were outside the limits of the 
laws of the Province, they had formed a code of their own and 
administered it impartially. In troublous times now upon 
these communities they all stood shoulder to shoulder, prov- 
ing the saying that blood is thicker than water. 

A few soldiers are said to have been stationed here and the 
settlers on both sides the river joined them in scouting duty, 
sending word to those below of approaching danger; several 
light skirmishes took place between the men of the fort and 
the Indians, in which several lives were lost. On an alarm, 
the inhabitants of the north side placed their families in 



58 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

canoes and paddled to Antes, Horn and Reid's forts; when 
danger passed over their families would return. 

Accompanied by John F. Meginuess, the historian, J. H. 
MacMinn, a great-grandson of Col. Antes, and quite an anti- 
quarian, we visited the sites of these upper West Branch forts. 
A Mr. Quiggle, of Pine, accompanied us to Fort Horn. The 
old gentleman pointed out to us the depression where, in his 
younger days, had stood up the remains of the stockades. The 
P. & E. R. R. at this point has cut away about one-half the 
ground enclosed by the fort. 

This stockaded fortification was situated on a commanding 
point of land on the West Branch of the Susquehanna river, in 
what is now the township of Wayne, Clinton county, one mile 
west of the post village of Pine. At this point the river de- 
scribes a great bend, affording a commanding view for about 
one mile up and down the stream from the elevation or point 
on which Samuel Horn chose to erect his stockade. Looking 
across the river to the north, which, at this point flows to the 
east, a magnificent view of the rich, alluvial valley is afforded; 
in the rear, not more than one-fourth of a mile away, is the 
dark and sombre range of the Bald Eagle mountain, varying in 
altitude from five to seven hundred feet. 

At the time Samuel Horn settled here the river was the In- 
dian boundary line, according to the provisions of the treaty 
of 1768, therefore, he was on the northern boundary of the 
Province of Pennsylvania. From the point where he built his 
cabin he could look over the Indian possessions for miles and 
plainly see the cabins of a dozen or more sturdy Scotch. Irish 
squatters on the "forbidden land." The tract on which Horn 
settled was warranted in the name of John L. Webster in 
1709. Since that time it has passed through a number of 
hands, and is now owned by a Mr. Quiggle, whose ancestors 
were among the early settlers in this part of Wayne township. 

Horn, when the Indians became threatening in 1777, with 
the assistance of his neighbors, enclosed his primitive log 
dwelling with stockades, and it became a rallying point as well 
as a haven of safety, in the perilous times which followed. 
The line of stockades can be pretty clearly traced to this day 
by the depression in the ground and the vegetation and under- 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 59 

brush. The enclosure probably embraced a quarter of an acre, 
thereby affording ample room lor a number of families. A 
small stream of pure mountain water ran along the western 
side of the enclosure, and it is probable that there was a way 
constructed so that it could be reached from within with 
safety from the prowling foe. When the Philadelphia and 
Erie railroad was built the line cut through the northern end 
of what has been the stockaded enclosure, and the discolored 
earth showed very plainly where the timber had decayed. 

Horn's Fort and the others of the upper West Branch were 
recognized by the authorities as defensive positions, and most 
of them, if not all, furnished with troops, either militia or Con- 
tinental, when troops could be procured for that purpose; 
when not garrisoned by militia, these forts on this flank, were 
held by the inhabitants of the Province of the south side of 
the river, assisted by their neighbors of the Indian lands of 
the north side. 

Colonel Antes was furnished militia to strengthen Antes 
Fort whenever Colonel Hunter, the commander of Northum- 
berland county, could procure them. Moses Van Campen tells 
us Colonel Kelly's regiment of militia garrisoned Fort Reid, 
at now Lock Haven, a few miles above Horn's, the most of the 
summer of 1777. 

Tradition says that Horn's was a defensive W'ork of no 
mean importance at that time, and was of great value to the 
pioneers who had pushed their way up the river in the advance 
guard, as it were. There was but one defensive work (Reid's) a 
few miles west, and as it was on the extreme limits of the fron- 
tier there a company of county militia was stationed for some 
time. Its location was admirably chosen. In all that region 
no more eligible position could have been formed. Standing 
on its ramparts, the eye swept the river right and left and the 
Indian lands to the north, for several miles. As the current 
bore immediately under its lea an Indian canoe could scarcely 
have glided past in the night without having been detected by 
a vigilant sentinel. 

One of the most remarkable incidents of Revolutionary 
times — an incident Avhich stands, so far as known, without its 
r-ounterpart in the history of the struggle of any people for 



GO THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

liberty and iudepeudOuce, oecuiTed within sight of Horn's foil, 
but across the river on the Indian laud. This was what is 
known as the 'Tine Creek Declaration of Independence." The 
question of the colonies throwing oil' the yoke of Great Britain 
and setting up business for themselves, had been much dis- 
cussed, both in and out of Congress. The hardy Scotch Irish 
settlers on both sides of the river, in the vicinity of Horns, 
bore little love for the mother country. The majority of them 
had been forced to leave their native land and to seek a home 
where they would be free from religious oppression — where 
they could worship Cod according to the dictates of their own 
conscience. They were all patriots in the broadest sense of 
the term, and a loyalist or tory Avould not have been tolerated 
in their midst. They yearned for independence, and when the 
discussion of the subject waxed warm they resolved on calling 
a public meeting to give formal expression to their views. Ac- 
cordingly, on the 4th day of July, 1T7G, the meeting, assembled 
on the Pine creek plains and a resolution was passed, declar- 
ing themselves free and independent of Great Britiiin. The 
remarkable feature of this meeting w^as that the Pine creek 
resolution was passed on the same day that a similar resolution 
was passed by the Continental Congress sitting in Philadel- 
phia, more than two hundred miles aw^ay, and between whom 
there could be no communication for concert of action. It 
was, indeed, a remarkable coincidence — remarkable in the fact 
that the Continental Congress and the squatter sovereigns on 
the West Branch should declare for freedom and indepen- 
dence about the same time. 

It is regretted that no written record of the meeting was 
preserved, showing who the officers were and giving the names 
of all those present. All that is known is what hasbecn handed 
down by tradition. The following names of the participants 
have been preserved: Thomas, Francis and John Clark, Alex- 
ander Donaldson, William Campbell, Alexander Hamilton, 
John Jackson, Adam Carson, Henry McCracken, Adam 
DeWitt, Kobert Love and Hugh Nichols. The meeting might 
have been held nt the cabins of either John Jackson or Alex- 
ander Hamilton, as both were representative and patriotic 
men of the period. Several of these men afterwards perished 



THE NORTH AND WEST iJRA.XCHKS. 61 

aL llie liauds uf liic savages; ulheiss tuiigiiL iu liie Uevuluiiou- 
aiy aimv and assisted iu acliieviug liie iudepeudeuce wliicli 
they had resolved the couutry should have. 

The majority of these uieu lived across the river from the 
fort ou the ludiau land, and they all received patents for the 
land they had pre-empted after the treaty and purchase of 
1784, in consideration of their loyalty, patriotism and devotion 
to the struggliug colonies. The name of fcSamuel Horn is not 
found among those that have been handed down to us, but- it 
may be safely inferred that the man who was sutHcientiy pa- 
triotic to build a stockade fort for the protection of the neigh- 
borhood in which these men lived, was a sympathizer, if not a 
participant, in the i'iue creek movement for independence. 

There is nothing on record to show that the fort was ever 
supplied with small cannon. Its only armanent was muskets 
and rifles in the hands of the hardy settlers when they had col- 
lected there in times of danger. That the savages regarded it 
with displeasure, and sought more than one opportunity to at- 
tack the occupants, there is abundant proof. They prowled 
about in small bauds or laid concealed in the surrounding 
thickets ready to shoot down and scalp anj' thoughtless occu- 
pant who might venture a few hundred yards from the enclos- 
ure. Among the thrilling escapes that have been preserved is 
that of the young woman named Ann Carson, just before the 
liight known in history as the Big Runaway. She ventured 
out of the fort one day and was fired upon by a concealed 
savage. The bullet cut through the folds of her dress, making 
fourteen holes in its flight, but left her uninjured. About the 
same time another young woman named Jane Anesley, while 
engaged in milking a cow one evening outside the enclos- 
use, was fired at by a lurking Indian several times. One bul- 
let passed through her dress, grazing her body so closely that 
she felt the stinging sensation so severely that she was sure 
she was shot. 

At the time Colonel Hunter sent up word from Fort Au 
gusta for the settlers to abandon the valley and flee to places 
of safety down the river, as he was informed that a large body 
of savages was preparing to descend from the Seneca country 
to devastate tlie valley and wipe out thf settlements, tlintfenr- 



62 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

k'ss scout and intrepid soldier, liobei't Covenhoven, bore the 
unwelcome news from Fort Muucy to Antes Fort and had a 
messenger dispatched from the latter place to warn the in- 
mates of Fort Horn that they must lly if they valued their 
lives. The meagre records informs us that all the settlers with- 
in a radius of several miles were collected at Horn's and that 
a great state of excitement prevailed. Those living on the In- 
dian lands across the river were gathered at the fort, anxiously 
awaiting news from below. Judging from the extent of the 
settlements at the time, a hundred or more fugitives must 
have been collected there. 

The order to evacuate the fort was received with feelings of 
alarm, well nigh bordering on despair. The frenzied settlers 
at once set about making jjreparations to abandon their 
humble homes, their growing crops — for it was in early June — 
and fly. Many of them buried chiuaware and other household 
effects that they could not well carry with them in places that 
they could recognize if they were ever permitted to return. 

Soon after receiving Colonel Hunter's message four men, 
Robert Fleming, Robert Donaldson, James McMichael and 
John Hamilton started down the river in canoes for AntesFort 
to secure a flat in which to transport their families below. They 
were squatters on the Indian land across the river from Horn's 
and they knew that the savages had a grudge against them for 
trespassing on their territory, and that they would fare badly 
if they fell in their hands. The dread of impending danger 
had driven them across the river with their families to seek 
the protection of the fort. 

They reached Antes Fort in safety, engaged a flat and started 
on their return. But the eye of the wily savage was on them. 
They had pushed their canoes up through the Pine creek riffles, 
when they pushed over to the south side of the river for the 
purpose of resting and to await for other parties who were fol- 
lowing them with the flat. At this point the mountain comes 
down almost to the edge of the river, and at that time it pre- 
sented an exceedingly wild and forbidding appearance. As 
they were about to land, and not suspecting dnnger, they were 
suddenly fired on by a small band of savages concealed in the 
bushes. l)onald«:ou jumped out of his r-anoe, rushed up the 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 63 

bank and cried to the otiiers, "Come on, boys." Hamilton saw 
the Indians rise up, and at tlie same time noticed the blood 
spurting from a wound in Donaldson's back as he was trying 
to reload his gun. He soon i'ell from exhaustion and died. Flem- 
ing and McMichael were also killed. Hamilton, who was un- 
touched, gave his canoe a powerful shove into the stream and, 
jumping into the water fell liat on the other side. Then, hold- 
ing the canoe with one hand between the Indians and himself, 
he managed to paddle across the river with the other. Several 
bullets flew around his frail craft, but he escaped without a 
scratch. When he landed his w'oolen clothes were so heavy, 
from being saturated with water, as to impede his flight. 
He, therefore, stripped himself of everything but his shirt and 
ran swiftly up the river. His route was by the Indian path to 
the Great Island. He ran for life. Fear lent wings to his 
flight. The flutter of a bird stimulated him to increase his 
speed, and if a bush came in his way he cleared it with a 
bound. In this way he ran for nearly three miles, passing the 
place where his father had settled, until he came opposite 
Horn's fort, when he was discovered and a canoe was sent to 
rescue him. 

The men in the flat being behind and hearing the firing and, 
divining the cause, hurriedly pushed to the north shore, below 
the mouth of Pine creek, which they hurriedly forded and ran 
up the path which Hamilton had so swiftly traveled. James 
Jackson, who was one of the party on the flat, found a horse 
pasturing on the Pine creek clearing Avhich he caught, 
mounted and rode up to the point opposite Horn's fort, when 
he was discovered and brought over in a canoe. The other 
men made their way to the fort and escaped. 

An armed body of men, as soon as the news was received at 
Horn's, made their way down to the place of ambusrade. Here 
the dead and scal])ed bodies of Donaldson. McMichael and 
Fleming were found, but the Indians had departed. They 
knew that they would be pv.nished and hurried av.ay as 
quickly as possible. The rescuing party secured the tliree 
dead bodies of their neighbors and carried them to AntesFort, 
where they were buried in the little graveyard which had been 
started outside of the enclosure. Xearlv all of tbce men h^ft 



64 THli; FKONTIKK Fi^RTS BETWEEN 

laiuilit-s, aud llie cruel inauiiei' iu wiiicli liiey iiad beeu .-siaiu 
eaused great exciteuieut at the fort, as well as iiueuse grief on 
the part of their wives aud children. It was a sad day at 
ilorn's. But no time was to be lost. Activity was the de- 
mand of the hour. The savages were emerging from the for- 
ests on every hand bent on murder and pillage, and the set- 
tlers collected at the fort saw that if they were to escape their 
relentless fury the3^ must fly at once. 

The same day the bloodj' affair occurred at Pine creek, a 
party of men were driving a lot of cattle down the river from 
the vicinity of the Great Island — the thickest part of the set- 
tlement on the Indian laud — when they were fired on by a 
small body of skulking savages, almost in sight of Fort Horn. 
The whites, who were well armed, returned the fire, when an 
Indian was observed to fall and was quickly removed by his 
corapanious. This mishap seemed to strike terror into the 
ranks of the survivors and they fled precipitately into the for- 
est, abandoning a lot of plunder, consisting largely' of blankets, 
which fell into the bauds of the whites. A member of the cattle 
party named Samuel Fleming, was shot through the shoulder 
and severely wounded. The Fleming family was one of the 
earliest to settle in this neighborliood, and as the head thereof 
had several sous, it is probable that Samuel was a brother of 
Kobert, who was killed in the ambuscade at Pine Creek, 

The firing was heard at Horn's aud added to thealarm of the 
women and children assembled there, which only subsided 
when they found the party approaching on the other side of 
the river with their cattle. Fleming was ferried over to the 
fort, where he had his wound dressed. The cattle drivers con- 
tinued on down the river in search of a ])lace of greater se- 
curity for their stock. 

Such were some of the incidents preceding the Big Runaway 
in the latter part of June, 1778, when all of that part of the 
valley of the West Branch, west of the Muney hills, was aban- 
doned by the white settlers to escape the fury of the savages. 
The stockade forts, like the humble log cabins, were dis- 
mantled and burned, so far as the remoi'seless foe was capable 
of carrying out their intentions. 

A descriplicMi of the I»ig Kunaway. wliicli has no parallel 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 65 

in frontier history, is not out of place in tliis connection. Tlie 
best account is found in Sliernian Day's JJistorical Collections 
of Pennsylvania, p. 451. Mr. Day obtained it from the lips of 
Covenhoven himself in 1.^42, more than fifty years ago, when 
the thrilling incidents were comparatively fresh in his mind. 
After delivering the order of Colonel Hunter to the com- 
mander of Antes Fort, and seeing that the message was con- 
vejed to Horn's, Covenhoven hastily returned to Fort Muncy 
and removed his wife to Sun bury for safety. He then started 
up the river in a keel boat for the purpose of securing his 
scanty household furniture and to aid the panic stricken in- 
habitants to escape. Day reports his story in these thrilling 
words: 

"As he was rounding a point above Derrstown (now Lewis- 
burg) he met the whole convoy from all the forts above 
(Muncy, Antes, Horn's and Reid's) and such a sight he never 
saw in his life. Boats, canoes, hog troughs, rafts hastily made 
of dry sticks — every sort of floating article had been put in 
requisition and were crowded with women and children and 
'plunder' — there were several hundred people in all. When- 
ever any obstruction occurred at a shoal or riffle, the women 
would leap out and put their shoulders, not, indeed, to the 
wheel, but to the flat boat or raft, and launch it again into 
deep water. The men of the settlement came down in single 
file on each side of the river to guard the women and children. 
The whole convoy arrived safely at Sunbury, leaving the entire 
line of farms along the West Branch to the ravages of the In- 
dians. They did not penetrate in any force near Sunbury, 
their attention having been soon after diverted to the memor- 
able descent on Wyoming. * * * After Coven- 
hoven had got his bedding and furniture in his boat (at Loyal- 
sock, and was proceeding down the river just below Fort 
Meuninger (at the mouth of White Deer creek), he saw a wo- 
man on the shore fleeing from an Indian. She jumped down 
the river bank and fell, perhaps, wounded by his gun. The 
Indian scalped her, but in his haste neglected to tomahawk 
lier. She survived the scalping, was picked up by the men 
from the fort (Freeland) and lived on Warrior run until about 
the vear 1840. Her name was Mrs. Durham." 



CG THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

iSUauge as it may seem, nolliing- lias been preserved to show 
\vho Samuel Horn was, whence he came or whither he went 
alter abandoning his fort. Neither do the records show that 
he ever warranted any land in that vicinity. That he had a 
famih^ is reasonably certain, else it is not likely he would have 
^ono to the trouble and expense of building a stockade around 
3iis cabin for protection and the protection of his neighbors, 
^uho made it a rallying point in time of great danger. All that 
3ias been preserved about him is what has been handed down 
an the form of tradition. It is probable that he never returned 
after the Big Kunaway, but settled in some of the lower coun- 
ties. His name, however, has been perpetuated in connection 
with the fort, and, although one hundred and sixteen yea/'S 
have rolled away since he hurriedly bade it adieu forever, the 
site where ii stood is still proudly pointed out by the people 
in the neighborhod, who hold his name in grateful remem- 
brance. 

This report would be incomplete if no further reference was 
made to the fearless scout — Robert Covenhoven — who bore 
the last message up the river warning the settlers to fly to 
Fort Augusta to escape the wrath of the red-handed Ishmael- 
ites who were bearing down on them from the north incited to 
commit the most atrocious deeds by the promise of British 
gold. 

Who was Robert Covenhovj^n? He was of Hollandish 
descent, and came with his father's family from Monmouth 
county, New Jersey, where he was born December 7, 1755, and 
settled near the mouth of Loyalsock creek in 1772. A number 
of relatives accompanied them. Our subject — the name has 
since been corrupted in Crownover — was first employed as a 
hunter and axeman by the surveyors, and early became ac- 
quainted with the paths of the wilderness and inured to the 
dangers and hardships of pioneer life. This knowledge and 
service eminently fitted him to perform the duties of a scout, 
and as he was fearless, strong and sagacious and well ac- 
quainted with tlie wiles of the Indian, he became xery suc- 
cessful in his dangerous calling. 

On the breaking out of the Revolution he joined Washing- 
ton's army and participated in the battles of Trenton and 



THK NORTH AND VViJST BiiANCHES. 67 

I'rintetoii. In the spring of 1777 lie was seut to his houie on 
tlie West Biauch to aid iu protecting the li'ontieis, and few 
men in those stirring- times endured greater hardships or had 
more hairbreadth escapes. He married Miss Mercy Kelsey 
Cutter (also a native of ^'ew Jersey), February 22, 1778, so 
that it will be seen that she was little more than a bride at the 
rime of the iJlg Runaway. 

To give a history of his life in full would require the space 
of a moderate sized volume. He was the principal guide foi- 
Colonel Hartley when he made his famous expedition up Ly- 
coming creek in September, 1778, by direction of Congress for 
the purpose of chastising the Indians at Tioga Point (now 
Athens), and was the first man to apply the torch to the wig- 
wam of Queen Esther at the Point. 

He had a brother killed in a fight with Indians on Loyal- 
sock, near where his father settled, and had another taken 
prisoner. He was himself chased for some distance along the 
creek, dodging up and down the bank alternately, that his 
savage pursuers might get no aim at him. Doubtless, his 
swiftness of foot and power of endurance saved him. He es- 
caped to Fort Muncy and gave an account of the tight. On 
the close of the war he purchased a farm in Level Corner, Ly- 
coming county, almost in sight of Antes Fort, and settled 
down to the quiet pursuits of agriculture. 

He had a family of five sons and three daughters, all of 
whom are deceased. His wife died November 27, 1843, aged 
88 years, 10 months and 8 days, and was buried in a cemetery 
on what is now West Fourth street, ^yilliamsport. Her grave 
has been obliterated by a church, which stands on the spot 
where it was made. 

When the veteran grew old and was borne down by the 
weight of years, he went to stay with a daughter who lived 
near Northumberland. There he died October 29, 184G, at the 
ripe and mellow age of 90 years, 10 months and 22 days, and 
was laid at rest in the old Presbyterian graveyard in the bor- 
ough of Nortliumberland. A plain marble headstone marks 
his grave, and the inscription, now almost illegible, tells who 
he was and what he did to hel]) achieve our independence. 
For years the old buiial ground where his ashes repose ha? 



68 THE FRONTIER FORTS BETWEEN 

bc't'ii a comuiou, and cattle graze on its gieeu swaid in suin- 
mvv time, pigs root among fallen tombstones and listless van- 
dals amuse themselves by defacing memorial tablets reared by 
lo^ing hands to perpetuate the name of a father or mother. 
The old patriot left a request in his will to be buried by the 
side of his wife, but his executor failed to carry it out, and 
from appearances his humble grave will soon be obliterated, 
the corroding tooth of time will soon destroy his plain marble 
tablet, and his numerous descendants will no longer be able 
10 tell where his bones were laid. 



FORT REID AT LOCK HAVEN. 

Fort Reid was the most westerly of the line of defences 
thrown out in advance of Fort Augusta, for the purpose of 
covering that place and as a rallying place for the inhabitants 
and the scouts when hard pressed. The Continental avmy had 
drawn largely upon the young active men of the region, leav- 
ing those less ht for active service at home to cope with an 
enemy, the most active and Avily in border warfare of this 
kind in the world. 

In this forest country, with the inhabitants isolated by the 
size of their land claims, he could lay in wait, concealed for 
weeks if necessary, to await an opportunity to strike the settler 
when off his guard or in a situation in which he could offer 
least effective opposition. Not hampered with baggage, never 
troubled about keeping open his communications, as he could 
.irlide through where a fox might pass, and as noiselessly; 
armed by his master with the best of arms the time afforded, 
while the pioneers could scarcely procure ammunition enough 
to keep his family in meat; the Indian was bountifully fur- 
iiislied fi'om the ample storehouses of the English. One nat- 
urally wonders how, with all the disadvantages against him, 
the settler held out so long; his staying qualities were won- 
derful; with these strengthened houses inadequately garri- 
soned as the only refuge for his family, he was a n>an who 
f'licits our admiration. 



THE NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES. 69 

Reid's Fort was the dwelling house of Mr. William Reid, 
stockaded in the spring of 1777; its location is on Water or 
River street, in the built up part of the town east of the mouth 
of the Bald Eagle canal. Judge Mayer and others have kept up 
;m interest in its site. Visiting the site, Capt. R. S. Barker 
r.ndmyself called upon William Quigley and his wife, who were 
said to be the oldest residents of the place, he being ninety 
years; we found the pair bright, intelligent people. He recol- 
lected the remains of Fort Reid and so did Mrs. Quigley. As 
their location is acquiesced in by Judge Mayer and the others, 
we give it. 

A large Indian mound existed at this place on the river 
bank, described as high as a two-story house, surrounded by 
a circle of small ones. In digging the Bald Eagle canal they 
cut away the western half of this mound, exhuming quantities 
of human bones and stone implements. The banks of the 
canal M'ere said to be whitened therewith for years after. Im- 
mediately to the east of the mounds and close thereto stood 
Reid's fort, traces of which could be seen after 1820. This 
gives us the exact site within, say thirty feet, of the chimney 
of the Reid house and brings us within the stockades. 

As mentioned before it was the left flanking defence of the 
seiies and was vacated by order of Col. Hunter, who had com- 
mand of these forts, and garrisoned when he had troops, but 
the principal defence fell upon the settlers of the regions they 
protected. The Indians seldom attacked these places with any 
persistency unless accompanied by whites. It was an import- 
ant point to garrison, covering the river on both sides and the 
lower Bald Eagle valley, which, when well done by the assist- 
ance of Horn, Antes and Muncy. protected the whole of the re- 
gion between the Bald Eagle and the Susquehanna down to 
White Deer creek. 

Moses Van Gampen, then orderly sergeant of Captain Gas- 
kins' companv of Colonel John Kelly's regiment of Northum- 
berland county militia, says the regiment was stationed here 
at Fort Reid during its six months' service in the summer of 
1777. As he calls it Fort Reid it must have been fortified ?t 
that time, as the position was on the extreme outer limits of 
the settlements and much exposed. This is, without doubt, 



70 THE FRONTIER FORTS 

correct. Scouting duty was performed by the regiment and 
guarding the inhabitants was performed vigilantly. Here, in 
the West Brauoh, is located at the mouth of the Bald Eagle 
creek, the "Big Island," comprising a few hundred acres and 
very fertile. This place attracted settlers early, while on each 
side of the river the lands were attractive and a consider- 
able settlement existed in the vicinity of the fort at this time. 
Here Van Campen had his wrestling match with the champion 
of the Indian land men, or those settlers on the north side of 
the river, in which Northumberland's activity and muscle pre- 
vailed. Here the Bald Eagle valley terminates. The fort, 
when manned as it should be, protected the low^er part of the 
valley. The Rev. Mr. Fithian, of the Presbvterian church, vis- 
ited this place before the Revolution, going with Miss Jenny 
Reed and another young woman whortleberrying on the Bald 
Eagle mountain. On returning from the expedition they came 
1 f.rt of the way by the river; their canoeman was unfortunate 
and overset the canoe, spilling out the girls and whortleberries. 
The water was not deep; the girls squalled lustily at first, but, 
linding themselves unhurt, they proceeded to chastise the 
canoeman by "skeeting" water over him with their tin cups 
until the poor fellow was effectually drenched, when, still in- 
dignant, they waded to the shore to their friends, who were 
there enjoying the scene. 

The foregoing includes all the forts built as a defence 
against the Indians prior to 1783 I find in my jurisdiction, and 
thev are fifteen in number. 



\ 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

OF THE 

WYOMING HISTORICAL AND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 

WilkesBarre, Pennsylvania. 



Wyoming Historical and Geological Society. Proceedings and Collections. 
Vols. 1-3. WilkesBarre, 1858-1886. Three vols., 8vo. pp. 3154-294+128. 
^10.00. 

CONTENTS. 

— Vol. I, No. I. Mineral Coal. Two Lectures, by Volney L. Maxwell. 1858. pp. 
52. Reprinted as follows : 2d edition, N. Y., 1858 ; 3d edition, with a preface, 
N. Y., i860, pp. 52; 4th edition, with a preface, Wilkes-Barre, 1869, pp. 51. 
$1.00. 

— Vol. I, No. 2. Proceedings at the Annual Meeting, February 11, 1881 ; Minutes; 
Report of Treasurer ; Report of Cabinet Committee ; Report of Committee on 
Flood of 1865 ; "A Yankee Celebration at Wyoming in Ye Olden Time," an 
historical address, by Steuben Jenkins. l88l. pp.58. Out of print. 

— Vol. I, No. 3. Proceedings for the Year ending February ii, 1882 ; List of Con- 
tributors; Communication of John H. Dager (of gauge readings at Wilkes-Barre 
bridge for 1880); Meteorological Observations for May, 1881-January, 1882, 
by E. L. Dana; Incidents in the Lifeof Capt. Samuel H. Walker, Texan Ranger, 
by Gen. E. L. Dana. 1881. pp. 58. ^0.50. 

— Vol. I, No. 4. A Memorandum Description of the Finer Specimens of Indian 
Earthenware Pots in the collection of the Society. By Harrison Wright. 1883. 
pp. (10). Seven heliotype plates. $1.00. 

— Vol. I, No. 5. List of Palicozoic Fossil Insects of the United States and Canada, 
with references to the principal Bibliography of the Subject. Paper read April 
6, 1883, by R. D. Lacoe. 1883. pp. 21. ^0.50. 

— Vol. I, No. 6. Proceedings for the Year ending P'ebruary II, 1883; List of Con- 
tributors; Meteorological Observations, February-, 1882-January, 1883, by Gen. 
E. L. Dana. pp. 70. ^0.75. 

— Vol. i,No.7. Isaac Smith Osterhout. Memorial. 1883. pp.14. Portrait. $0.75. 

— Vol. I, No. 8. Ross Memorial. General William Sterling Ross and Ruth Tripp 
Ross. 1884. Two portraits. 1858-1884. 8vo., pp. 17. $1.00. 

— Vol. I. Title page. Contents. Index, pp. xi. 

— Vol. 2, Part I. Charter; By-Laws; Roll of Membership ; Proceedings, March, 
1883-February, 1884; Meteorological Oliservalions taken at Wilkes-Barre, 
March, 1883-January, 1884, by E. L. Dana; Report of the Special Archaeolog- 



ical Committee on the Athens locality, by Harrison Wright ; Local Shell Beds, 
by Sheldon Reynolds; Pittston Fort, by Steuben Jenkins; A Bibliography of the 
Wyoming Valley, by Rev. Horace Edwin Hayden ; Calvin Wadhams, by Geo. 
B. Kulp. P.-VRT II. Proceedings, May 9, 1884-February II, 18S6; Archx'olog- 
ical Report, by Sheldon Reynolds ; Numismatical Report, by Rev. Horace 
Edwin Hayden; Pal;Teoiitological Report, by R. D. Lacoe ; Mineralogical Report, 
by Harrison Wright; Conchological Report, by Dr. Charles F. Ingham; Con- 
tributions to Library; Meteorological Observations taken at Wilkes-Barre, Feb- 
ruary, 1884-January, i885, by E. L. Dana; Rev. Bernard Page, by Sheldon 
Reynolds ; Various Silver and Copper Medals presented to the American Indians 
by the Sovereigns of England, France and Spain, from i6oD to 1800, by Rev. H. 
E. Hayden ; Report on some Fossils from the lower coal measures near Wilkes- 
Barre, by E. W. Claypole; Report on the Wyoming Valley Carboniferous Lime- 
stone Beds, by Charles A. Ashburner; Obituaries, by George B. Kulp. Inde.x. 
1886. pp. 294. Illustrated. ^3.00. 
-Vol. 3. In Memoriam. Harrison Wright, A. M., Ph. I). ; Proceedings of the 
• Society ; Biographical Sketch, by G. B. Kulp ; Literary Work, by Sheldon Rey- 
nolds, M. A.; Poem, by D. M. Jones; Luzerne County Bar proceedings; Trus- 
tees of Osterhout Free Library Resolutions ; Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 
proceedings. 1886. 8vo., pp. 128. Portrait. ^3.00. 



Annals of Luzerne County. By Stewart Pearce. Philadelphia, i860. 8vo. pp. 554. 
Folded map. Dedicated to the Society. Same, second edition, with notes, 
corrections and valuable additions. Philadelphia, i860. 8vo. pp.. 564. 

Sketch of the Society, by C. B. Johnson. Reprinted from the Sunday News-Dealer, 
Christmas edition. Wilkes-Barre. 1880. 8vo., pp. 7. 

Report of a Committee of the Society on the early Shad Fisheries of the North 
Branch of the Susquehanna River, by Harrison Wright, Ph. D., chairman of the 
committee. In U. S. Fish Commission Bulletin. 1882. pp. 352-359. $l.oo; 

A Circular of Inquiry from the Society respecting the old Wilkes-Barre Academy. 
Prepared by Harrison Wright, Ph. D. Wilkes-Barre, 1883. 8vo., pp. 19. ^0.25. 

The Old Academy. Interesting sketch of its forty-six trustees. Harrison Wright, 
Ph. D. Broadside. 1883. ^0.25. 

Circular on Life Membership. 1884. 4to., p. i. 

Circular on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Erection of Luzerne County. 

Hon. Ilendrick Bradley Wright. By Geo. B. Kulp. Wilkes-Barre, 1884. 8vo., 
pp. 12. No title page. Reprinted for the Society from Kulp's Families of 
Wyoming Valley. 

An Account of Various Silver and Copper Medals presented to the North American 
Indians by the sovereigns of England, France and Spain, from 1600 to l8oo, and 
especially of five such medals of George I. of Great Britain, now in the possession 
of the Society, and its members. Read before the Society .September 12, 1885, 
by Rev. Horace Edwin Hayden, M. A., Curator of Numismatics. Wilkes-Barre, 
1886. 8vo., pp. 26. Reprinted from vol. 2, part II. of the proceedings. 5l-00 




Ebenezer Warren Sturdevant. By George B. Kulp. Wilkes-Barre, 1884. 8vo., 
pp. 10. Reprinted for the Society from Kulp's Families of Wyoming Valley. 

A Bibliography of the Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania. Being a catalogue of all 
books, pamphlets and other ephemera in any way relating to its history, with bib- 
liographical and critical notes, etc. Part I, by the Rev. Horace Edwin Hayden, 
A. M. Read before the Society December 14, 1883, and reprinted from vol. 
2, part I, proceedings. Wilkes-Barre, 1886. 8vo., pp. loo. $1.00. 

A Brief Review of the Literary Work of the late Harrison Wright, Ph. U., Record- 
ing Secretary and one of the Trustees of the Wyoming Historical and Geological 
Society. By Sheldon Reynolds. Wilkes-Barre, 1886. 8vo., pp. (2), 81-93. 
Reprinted from vol. 3 of the Proceedings and Collections of the Wyoming His- 
torical and Geological Society. 

Local Shell Beds. A paper read before the Society September 14, 1883, by Shel- 
don Reynolds, M. A. Reprinted from part I, volume 2, of the Proceedings and 
Collections of the Society. Wilkes-Barre, i886. 8vo., pp. ic. 

Report on some Fossils from the lower coal measures near Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne 
county, Pennsylvania. A paper read before the Society December 12, 1884, by 
Prof. E. W. Claypole. Reprinted from vol. 2, part H, of the Proceedings of the 
Society. Wilkes-Barre, Pa., 1886. 8vo., pp. 15. 

Report on some Fossils from the lower coal measures near Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne 
county, Pennsylvania. By Prof E. W. Claypole. From the Proceedings and 
Collections of the Society, Vol. 2, part XL Wilkes-Barre, 1886. 8vo., pp. 
239-253- 

Report on the Wyoming Valley Carboniferous Limestone Beds. By Charles A. 
Ashburner, geologist in charge of the anthracite survey, etc. Accompanied by a 
description of the fossils contained in the beds. By Angelo Heilprin. From the 
Proceedings of the Society, vol. 2, part H. Wilkes-Barre, 1 886. 8vo., pp. 
254-277. These two have printed titles on covers. 

The Rev. Bernard Page, A. M., first Episcopal minister of Wyoming, A. D. 1771. 
Read before the Society September 12, 1884, by Sheldon Reynolds, M. A. Re- 
printed from part 11, vol. 2, of the Proceedings and Collections of the Society. 
Wilkes-Barre, 1886. 8vo., pp. 13. 

A Biographical Sketch of the late Hon. Edmund Lovell Dana, President of the Oster- 
hout Free Library, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. By Sheldon Reynolds, M. A., Secretary. 
Prepared at the request of, and read before the directors of the library July 26, 
1889, and before the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society September 13, 
1889. Wilkes-Barre, I'a., 1889. 8vo., pp. il. 

Coal, its Antiquity. Discovery and early development in the Wyoming Valley. A 
paper read before the Society June 27, 1890, by Geo. B. Kulp, Historiographer 
of the Society, Wilkes-Barre, 1890. Seal. Svo., pp. 27. 

The Massacre of Wyoming. The Acts of Congress for the defense of the Wyoming 
Valley, Pennsylvania, 1776-1778 ; with the Petitions of the Sufferers by the Mas- 
sacre of July 3, 1778, for Congressional aid. With an introductory chapter by 
^ Rev. Horace Edwin Hayden, ^L A., Corresponding Secretary Wyoming Histori- 



\ 



APR 4 1904 



cal and (jeological Society. Seal. 8vo., frontispiece, pp. 119. Printed for the 
Society. Wilkes-Barre, Pa., 1S95. 3i-50- 

Notes on the Tornado of August 19, 1890, in Luzerne and Columbia counties. A 
paper read before the Wyoming Historical and Cieological Society December 12, 
1890, by Prof. Thomas Santee, Principal of the Central High School. Seal. 
8vo., pp. 51. Map. Wilkes-Barre, Pa., 1891. $1.00. 

In Its New Home. The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society takes formal 
possession of its new quarters. Address of Hon. Stanley Woodward. From the 
Evening Leader Tvitsdzy, November 21, 1893. 8vo., pp. 4. 

Pedigree Building. Dr. William H. Egle. 1896. pp. 4. 

The Yankee and the Pennamite in the Wyoming Valley. Hon. Stanley W^oodward. 
1896. pp. 4. 

The Frontier Forts within the Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania. A report of the Com- 
mission appointed by the State to mark the Forts erected against the Indians 
prior to 1783, by Sheldon Reynolds, M. A., a Member of the Commission, and 
president of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society. With a brief 
memoir of the author, by Andrew H. McClintock, M. A. Read before the 
Wyoming Historical and Geological Society December, 1894, and reprinted from 
the State Report, 1896. Seal. Wilkes-Barre, Penn'a, 1896. 8vo., pp. 48. 
Illustrations, ^i.oo. 

The Frontier Forts within the North and West Branches of the Susquehanna River, 
Pennsylvania. A Report of the Commission appointed by the State to mark 
the Frontier Forts erected against the Indians prior to 1783, by Captain 
John M. Buckalew, a Member of the Commission, and Corresponding Member of 
the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society. Read before the Society Octo- 
ber 4, 1895, and reprinted from the State Report, 1896. Seal. Wilkes-Barre, 
Penn'a, 1896. 8vo., pp. 70. Illustrations. $1.00. 



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